SPF Record for Squarespace: Email Authentication Setup Guide

Squarespace is a popular website builder, but when it comes to email and DNS, things can get confusing. Squarespace offers its own email service (powered by Google Workspace), hosts DNS for domains registered or transferred through Squarespace, and also serves as a website platform where your domain might point elsewhere for DNS. Each of these scenarios affects how you set up SPF.

For a comprehensive overview of SPF, see our complete SPF guide. This guide covers the most common situation: you use Squarespace's email service and need to set up SPF so your emails authenticate properly.

Understanding Squarespace and Email

Before jumping into setup, it helps to understand how Squarespace handles email. There are three distinct things that often get mixed up:

Squarespace Email is essentially Google Workspace with Squarespace branding and billing (Squarespace Help: Email). When you sign up for Squarespace Email, you get a Google Workspace account. Your emails are sent through Google's servers, which means your SPF record needs to authorize Google.

SPF Record for Squarespace Email

If you use Squarespace Email (Google Workspace), your SPF record should include Google's SPF servers:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

If you also use other email services alongside Squarespace Email — like Mailchimp for marketing or Zendesk for support — add their includes to the same record:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:servers.mcsv.net ~all

Remember, you can only have one SPF record per domain. All your authorized senders go in a single record using the include mechanism. See SPF for Multiple ESPs for more details.

Setting Up SPF in Squarespace DNS

If your domain is registered with Squarespace (or was transferred to Squarespace after they acquired Google Domains), you manage DNS through Squarespace's domain settings panel. Here is how to add your SPF record:

Squarespace DNS vs. External DNS

Your website can be on Squarespace while your DNS is managed elsewhere — or the reverse. The DNS host is where you add SPF records, regardless of where your website lives.

If Squarespace hosts your DNS: Add the TXT record in Squarespace's domain settings panel (steps above).

If your DNS is hosted elsewhere (like Cloudflare, GoDaddy, or Namecheap): Add the TXT record at that provider instead. The SPF value is the same — only where you add it changes. See our guides for Cloudflare, GoDaddy, or Namecheap.

A Note on Google Domains

In 2023, Squarespace acquired Google Domains. If your domain was originally registered with Google Domains, it was migrated to Squarespace. The DNS management interface changed, but your existing DNS records (including any SPF record) should have been preserved during the migration.

If you are coming from Google Domains and your email still works, your SPF record was likely carried over. Use the checker tool above to confirm it is still in place and valid. If something looks wrong or the record is missing, follow the steps above to re-add it.

Using a Third-Party Email Provider with Squarespace

Not everyone uses Squarespace Email. You might use Squarespace only for your website or DNS hosting while sending email through Microsoft 365, Zoho, or another provider. In that case, your SPF record should authorize your actual email provider — not Google.

Microsoft 365:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all

Zoho Mail:

v=spf1 include:zoho.com ~all

No email at all (domain only used for website):

v=spf1 -all

If your domain does not send email, publish v=spf1 -all to prevent anyone from spoofing it — see softfail vs hardfail to understand the difference between ~all and -all. This is especially important for domains used only as website addresses. Not sure what to include? SPF Creator can build the right record based on your services.

Verifying Your Setup

After adding the SPF record, take these steps to confirm everything works:

1. Check the record. Use the tool above to verify your SPF record is published, syntactically correct, and within the 10 DNS lookup limit.

2. Send a test email. Send an email from your Squarespace Email (or whichever service you use) to a Gmail address. Open the message, click the three dots, select "Show original," and look for spf=pass in the authentication results.

3. Complete your authentication. SPF alone is not enough for reliable email delivery. Also set up DKIM (Squarespace Email handles this through Google Workspace) and DMARC to protect your domain fully. If you need to add an SPF record for a different domain on Squarespace's DNS, see our dedicated guide on adding SPF records in Squarespace.

References

• RFC 7208: Sender Policy Framework (SPF) — The current SPF specification
• Squarespace Help: Email through Squarespace — Official Squarespace email setup guide
• Google Workspace Admin Help: SPF — Google SPF setup (Squarespace Email is powered by Google Workspace)