Set up Google Workspace email on your domain

Google Workspace gives you Gmail at your own domain (you@yourbusiness.com) plus Calendar, Drive and Meet. You sign up with Google, prove you own the domain, then point the domain's email to Google. Your website keeps working the whole time.

1. Sign up with Google

1. Go to workspace.google.com and start a plan.
2. When asked, choose that you already have a domain and enter it, for example yourbusiness.com.
3. Create your first user, such as hello@yourbusiness.com.

2. Verify that you own the domain

1. Google shows a verification code that starts with google-site-verification=. Copy it.
2. Sign in where your domain's DNS is managed (the company you bought it from, or Cloudflare).
3. Add a TXT record: name @ (or leave it blank, depending on your provider), value the code you copied.
4. Back in Google, click Verify. It often works within minutes, but can take up to a few hours.

Google's guide: Verify your domain for Google Workspace.

3. Send your email to Google

1. In the same DNS settings, delete any existing MX records for the main domain. They send mail somewhere else.
2. Add an MX record: name @, mail server smtp.google.com, priority 1.
3. In Google's setup, click Activate Gmail. New mail usually arrives within an hour; DNS changes can take up to 72 hours everywhere.

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

4. Help your emails reach the inbox

These two records stop your messages being marked as spam.

• SPF: a TXT record, name @, value v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. A domain may have only one SPF record: if one already exists, add include:_spf.google.com to it instead of creating a second.
• DKIM: in the Google Admin console open Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Authenticate email, generate a record, add it as a TXT record with the name Google shows (usually google._domainkey), then click Start authentication. Google's guide: Set up DKIM.

Do not change these

Leave the records that point your domain to your Mondovo site (the www record and any Mondovo verification records) exactly as they are. Email records are separate and do not affect your website.

Frequently asked questions

My DNS provider added my domain to the end of the record name. Is that a problem?

Some providers add it for you. If the record shows as yourbusiness.com.yourbusiness.com, edit it and enter only @ or leave the name blank.

My domain is on Cloudflare. Anything different?

No. Add the MX and TXT records in Cloudflare's DNS page. Email records are never proxied, so there is no orange cloud to switch off.

I am not receiving email yet.

Check that the only MX record for the main domain is smtp.google.com, and give it a few hours. Google's Admin console shows whether it can see your MX record.