Dedicated Email Sending Domains Overview & Setup

Modified on: Wed, 15 Apr, 2026 at 4:13 AM

Email Services

Dedicated Sending Domain

A dedicated sending domain gives your business full control over what email servers deliver on your behalf — helping you avoid spam filters, protect your brand reputation, and improve deliverability.

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LC Email Users Only

Dedicated sending domains apply only to accounts on the LC Email system. Warm up any brand-new domain before emailing large lists to avoid poor deliverability.

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Using a Third-Party SMTP?

If you want to connect an external provider instead, see Setting Up SMTP Providers.

Table of Contents

1 What is a Dedicated Sending Domain?
2 Configuring Dedicated Sending Domains
3 Shared Domain Email Refactoring
4 Troubleshooting Dedicated Sending Domains
5 Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Dedicated Sending Domain?

A dedicated sending domain lets you send emails that appear to come directly from your brand — not from HighLevel's shared infrastructure. This protects your sender reputation and gives recipients a trustworthy, consistent experience. Any sub-account or agency can set one up quickly.

By default, all emails sent through the platform show HighLevel's sending servers in the "sent on behalf of" or "sent via" headers, as shown below:

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Configuring Dedicated Sending Domains

You can create multiple sending domains and assign different ones for 1-to-1 emails, workflow emails, marketing campaigns, and payment/invoice emails.

Navigate to Email Services

Go to Settings → Email Services
Click the "Dedicated Domain and IP" tab.

Add Domain Information

Click "Add Domain" to begin configuring.
Enter the sub-domain you want to use for sending.

What is a Sub-Domain?

Sub-domains are variants of your root domain. For example, if your root domain is agency123.com, you can create sub-domains like emails.agency123.com or no-reply.agency123.com.

You can create as many sub-domains as you like and use different ones for different campaigns or communication types.

Verify DNS Records

After adding your sub-domain, you'll need to verify DNS records. HighLevel can auto-configure them, or you can add them manually if auto-configuration isn't available.

Propagation can take up to 24 hours. If it's been longer, double-check your DNS settings. Note: Multiple DKIM records for the same domain are not supported.

Manually Adding DNS Records

To add DNS records manually, create them in your hosting provider's dashboard using the values HighLevel provides (as shown below). Then verify them from the HighLevel settings panel.

Instructions for common DNS providers:

Dedicated Sending Domains for Calendar Emails

You can assign dedicated sending domains specifically for Calendar emails (confirmations, reminders, reschedules) to protect deliverability for time-sensitive appointment communications.

① Go to Settings → Email Service → SMTP Service

② Select Dedicated Domain and IP

③ Under Domain Configuration → Calendar, add up to 5 domains

④ Set percentage-based distribution across multiple Calendar domains

Only sub-account–created domains are available for selection. This feature is available for LC Email users only.

Set Up Google Postmaster Tools

For your dedicated sending domain

Google Postmaster Tools (GPT) helps you monitor Gmail-specific deliverability for your HighLevel dedicated sending domain. Track domain/IP reputation, spam rate, authentication alignment, and delivery errors to diagnose inboxing issues and improve performance.

Visit gmail.com/postmaster with a Google account.

Add your domain (e.g., yourbrand.com or mail.yourbrand.com)

Choose Verify and copy the TXT record

Add TXT record to your DNS host exactly as shown, then save

Return to GPT and complete verification. Google may take some time to detect the record.

Send email from HighLevel using your verified dedicated domain.

After Google collects sufficient volume, review Domain Reputation, IP Reputation, Spam Rate, Authentication, and Delivery Errors dashboards.

Shared Domain Email Refactoring

When using a shared sending domain (HighLevel-owned or an Agency Shared Domain), HighLevel automatically refactors the actual sent address to match the shared-domain infrastructure.

How It Works

HighLevel keeps the From address you configured, but rewrites the sending address behind the scenes using a "plus" format:

# From address (as configured)
test@gohighlevel.com
# Shared domain (account-level)
mg.msgsndr.com
# Actual sent address
test+gohighlevel.com@mg.msgsndr.com

Applies To:

All agency sub-accounts created after August 26th
All locations under these agencies using shared domains
Refactoring will be automatically applied to all existing agencies within the next 2 weeks

Existing agencies are not impacted yet. The same functionality is planned to be available in Labs for existing agencies for testing and gradual rollout.

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To avoid email refactoring and maintain your brand identity:

Set up a dedicated sending domain following the steps in this article. With a dedicated domain, your emails send exactly as configured — no modifications.

Troubleshooting Dedicated Sending Domains

Below are common issues you may encounter when setting up your dedicated sending domains, along with how to resolve them without contacting support.

Error: "Domain already pointing to email server!"

This means your domain already has DNS records connected to a different service. You'll need to remove any existing MX or SPF records (even HighLevel ones) before connecting it here.

Use a free lookup tool to check your current records: mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx →

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I choose a sending domain name for my account?

Use a unique subdomain not used for any other purpose. For example, if your root domain is yourbrand.com, create a subdomain like mg.yourbrand.com where "mg" is the subdomain portion.

Q: How do I set up a dedicated IP address?

Setting up a dedicated IP address is a separate process. Click here to learn more about dedicated IP addresses →

Q: What do I do if some DNS records are not verified yet?

Force the verification process manually. If records still aren't verified after that, contact your hosting provider — there may be an issue they can help resolve on their end.

Q: How do I generate an SSL certificate for dedicated sending domains?

The SSL certificate is automatically generated when your domain is verified. If it's showing as verified but no SSL exists, re-verify by going through the full verification process again. If that doesn't work, contact your hosting provider.

Q: What if my domain has a wildcard DNS record?

Wildcard records (e.g., *.yourdomain.com) act as catch-alls, so any subdomain already "exists" by default — this causes a "pre-existing record" error.

Fix: Temporarily remove the wildcard record, verify the dedicated domain, then add the wildcard back. Alternatively, manually add DNS records for each subdomain to override the wildcard.

Q: Will my recipients see the refactored email address?

Yes — recipients will see the refactored sending address (e.g., support+yourbusiness.com@mg.msgsndr.com) in their email client.

Q: How can I prevent my email addresses from being refactored?

Set up a dedicated sending domain. With a dedicated domain, your emails will send with your exact From address — no modifications applied.

Q: Does refactoring affect my reply-to address?

No — refactoring only affects the sending address. Your reply-to address remains exactly as configured.

? Email Sending Guide: Email Best Practices & Email Warm Up