Domain & DNS Check n°27 / 120

MX records

MX records tell the world's email servers where to send messages addressed to your domain. Without them, emails sent to "contact@yoursite.co…

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Understanding "MX records"

MX (Mail eXchange) records tell mail servers worldwide which server is responsible for receiving emails addressed to your domain. Without a properly configured MX record, any email sent to someone@yourdomain.com bounces immediately, with no possibility of delivery.

This check concerns only receiving email — it's complementary to the SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks, which cover authentication of emails sent from your domain.

❌ No MX record
✉️ Email to contact@yourdomain.com
→ no destination server found →
↩️ Bounce
✅ MX configured
✉️ Email to contact@yourdomain.com
→ MX → mail.yourdomain.com →
📬 Email delivered

How TheSiteFuse checks "MX records"

TheSiteFuse queries the root domain's MX-type DNS records. If present, up to 3 configured mail servers are listed (sorted alphabetically) and the check passes. If entirely absent, a warning is returned — not a blocking error, since some domains (a showcase site with no email of its own, a subdomain dedicated to an application) legitimately have no need to receive emails.

Why "MX records" matters

  • Loss of business communications — without MX, any email sent to the domain (a sales inquiry, a user account password reset, a partner notification) silently fails for the sender.
  • Common post-migration mistake — a change of email host or DNS provider sometimes omits copying over the MX records, interrupting email reception without it being immediately visible (the website itself keeps working normally).
  • Credibility impact — a business domain unable to receive email can come across as poorly maintained to B2B contacts trying to reach you directly.

Fix "MX records" step by step

If you use business email (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365…)

The provider documents the exact MX records to add. Example for Google Workspace:

Type: MX | Priority: 1  | Value: ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
Type: MX | Priority: 5  | Value: ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
Type: MX | Priority: 5  | Value: ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

If you run your own mail server

Type: MX | Priority: 10 | Value: mail.yourdomain.com

Verification

dig yourdomain.com MX +short

If the domain deliberately has no email use: this warning can safely be ignored — it's a legitimate case, particularly for technical subdomains or pure redirect domains.

Reference resource

To deepen your understanding of the technical concepts behind this check, see the dedicated Wikipedia article.

Wikipedia — MX records

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