How to Add a TXT Record in cPanel

What TXT records do

A TXT record is a DNS record that carries text for other services to read: SPF, DKIM and DMARC policies for email authentication, and the verification strings Google Workspace, Meta and other providers ask you to publish. The quick version of the task:

1. Open cPanel > Domains > Zone Editor (under the Domains section).
2. Find your domain and click Add Record.
3. Set Type to TXT.
4. Set Name/Host — @ for the root (the editor expands it to yourdomain.com.) or a subdomain like google._domainkey.
5. Set TTL — 3600 is the sane default.
6. Paste the Value — the record string exactly as the provider gave it.
7. Click Add Record — changes go live on the authoritative zone immediately and propagate outward per TTL.

That is the whole procedure; the sections below cover SPF, DKIM and verification records specifically. For the full mail-delivery sequence these records serve, see the business email hosting plans.

The cPanel Zone Editor walkthrough

Open cPanel > Domains > Zone Editor, click Manage on your domain's row to open the zone, then click Add Record — or the small arrow beside it — and pick TXT from the record-type menu. Enter the Name, TTL and Record, then click Save Record (or Save All Records when adding several). For a subdomain, type the name in full prefix notation, e.g. google._domainkey.yourdomain.com. Two cautions from the official documentation: the Record field accepts invalid data, so paste the provider's string exactly; and if TXT is missing from the menu, your host's package has limited the editor — the host must enable the full Zone Editor before you can add the record.

Adding SPF correctly

SPF is one TXT record at the root (@) whose value starts v=spf1, lists the mail servers allowed to send for the domain, and usually ends in ~all. Paste the exact string your mail provider generates — it already names the right servers. When you add a sender, merge it into that one record with an include: mechanism; publishing a second v=spf1 record on the same hostname makes receivers pick arbitrarily and usually fails both.

Adding DKIM records

A DKIM record is a TXT record published at selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com, where the selector is the label the sending mail server signs with. In cPanel, Email > Email Deliverability generates the domain's DKIM key and can publish the record for you; when an external provider such as Google or Zoho signs your mail, copy the selector and value it supplies into the Zone Editor instead. Long keys often arrive split into multiple quoted strings — concatenate them into one value before saving.

Verification records: Google Workspace, Meta and more

Domain-verification TXT records prove you control the domain. Google Workspace gives you a google-site-verification= token; Meta and Microsoft 365 hand out similar strings. Add the token as a TXT record at @ with TTL 3600, wait for it to propagate, then click Verify in the provider's console — the console's exact string is always the authority, so copy it rather than retyping it.

Checking propagation with dig and whatsmydns

New records go live on the authoritative servers immediately and spread outward per TTL. Check yours with dig TXT yourdomain.com (add +short to see just the value) or dig TXT selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com for a DKIM record, or watch worldwide propagation on whatsmydns.net with the TXT filter. If a checker still returns the old answer, its cache has not expired yet — wait out the TTL before re-editing the record.

Common mistakes: quotes, @, trailing dots

Quotes. Pasting the provider's value with their quotes is usually fine in cPanel, but doubled quotes ('"value""') break parsing — if the record shows weird in dig, re-enter without quotes. @ confusion: entering yourdomain.com in Host duplicates the domain (it becomes yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com.) — use @ alone.

Trailing dots: cPanel appends the zone automatically; do not type the full name with a final dot. Splitting long DKIM keys: if a provider gives the key in multiple quoted segments, concatenate them into one string. And the master rule: one SPF record per hostname — a second v=spf1 record makes receivers pick arbitrarily, usually failing both. Mail-record neighbours live in the MX guide and the MX explainer.