Using Google Workspace for email on your domain

Google Workspace gives you Gmail with your own domain, for example info@yourdomain.com. 1smart.link hosts your website, but it does not host email mailboxes, so your email lives with Google and your website lives with us. Both work on the same domain.

This page explains what Google asks you to add at your domain company, with links to Google's own help pages. Google Workspace is a paid service. For plans and prices, see Google Workspace's pricing page.

Note: Google's setup screens and help pages are the final word. If anything here differs from what Google shows you, follow Google.

Before you start

  • Sign up for Google Workspace on Google's website. Google's setup tool walks you through the first steps.

  • Keep your domain company's DNS page open in another tab. Our guides for Namecheap, GoDaddy and Hostinger show how to add each type of record.

  • Your domain must use your domain company's own nameservers, so the records you add there are the ones that count.

1. Prove you own the domain

Google gives you a TXT record to add at your domain company. You find it in the Google Admin console under Account, then Domains, then Manage domains: click Verify domain and follow the steps until Google shows the TXT record.

  • Type: TXT

  • Host: @, or leave it blank if your domain company asks you to

  • Value: the code Google shows, starting with google-site-verification=. Copy it exactly.

Save the record, go back to Google, and confirm. Google then looks for the record. Leave it in place until Google says your domain is verified.

Google's guide: Verify your domain with a TXT record.

Warning: The verification code is a DNS record. It never goes in the nameserver boxes at your domain company.

2. Send your email to Google (MX record)

The MX record tells the internet to deliver your domain's email to Gmail. Google's help gives one MX record:

  • Type: MX

  • Host: @

  • Mail server (value): smtp.google.com

  • Priority: 1

Google also says to remove any other MX records, because email might not work correctly if old ones stay. Remove your old email provider's MX records so only Google's is left.

Google's guide: Set up MX records for Google Workspace.

Note: Older Google Workspace accounts may use MX values starting with aspmx. Google says these still work. Use whatever your own Google setup shows.

3. Protect your email (SPF record)

SPF tells other mail services that Google is allowed to send email for your domain.

  • Type: TXT

  • Host: @

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

A domain can have only one SPF record. If you already have one (a TXT record starting with v=spf1), do not add a second. Add include:_spf.google.com into the existing record instead, before the ~all at the end, and remove anything left over from an email provider you no longer use.

Google's guide: Set up SPF.

4. Sign your email (DKIM record)

DKIM adds a signature to your email so it is less likely to land in spam. You make the key in Google, add it at your domain company, then switch it on in Google.

  1. In the Google Admin console, go to Apps, then Google Workspace, then Gmail, then Authenticate email.

  2. Generate a new record. Google offers a 2048-bit key; choose 1024-bit only if your domain company cannot take the longer one.

  3. Add the record Google shows at your domain company as a TXT record. The host is usually google._domainkey. Copy the host and the long value exactly as Google shows them.

  4. Go back to Google and click Start authentication.

Google asks you to wait a while after turning on Gmail before you generate the key, and DKIM can take a while to start working after you add it. Google's guide gives the details: Set up DKIM.

5. Connect your website's email

Your website sends order confirmations, form replies and password resets. To send them from your Google Workspace address, follow Sending email from your website.

Things to check

  • Only one SPF record. Look through the TXT records at your domain company. If more than one starts with v=spf1, combine them into one.

  • No old MX records. Only Google's MX record should be left.

  • Your website records are untouched. Adding email records does not change the A and CNAME records for your website. Leave those as your Website tab shows them.

  • Some domain companies offer a one-click Google Workspace setup. If you use one, check afterwards that the records match what Google's setup shows, and that you still have only one SPF record.

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