Summary
A dedicated sending domain in Klaviyo is critical for accurate Google Postmaster Tools data. Without it, you're sharing a sending domain with other users, diluting the data and making it difficult to assess your performance accurately, diagnose deliverability issues, and protect your sending reputation. Experts and documentation emphasize that a dedicated domain provides exclusive control, enabling effective monitoring, issue resolution, and optimization of email campaigns. Proper authentication with DKIM and finalizing the domain setup are essential steps. Sharing sending domains mixes your sending reputation with the sending reputation of others which isn't beneficial. Not properly setting up a dedicated sending domain means you'll be sharing IPs with other senders, which means your reputation is affected by others. Experts advise that not properly setting up a dedicated sending domain results in the 'via' showing.
Key findings
- Accurate Data & Control: Dedicated sending domains provide accurate, sender-specific data in Google Postmaster Tools and give you exclusive control over your sending reputation.
- Reputation Isolation: Dedicated domains isolate your sending reputation, preventing dilution by other senders' practices.
- Deliverability Insights: Having a dedicated domain facilitates clear insights into deliverability issues and enables effective identification and resolution.
- Actionable Metrics: Dedicated domains ensure that metrics in Google Postmaster Tools are actionable and reflect your specific email campaigns.
- DKIM Importance: Signing DKIM with your own domain, and completing the set up in Klaviyo rather than using Klaviyo's shared domain, is crucial for proper authentication.
Key considerations
- Shared Domain Risks: Sharing a sending domain aggregates data, making it nearly impossible to accurately assess individual performance or address sender-specific issues.
- Domain Authentication: Properly authenticating your sending domain with custom DKIM is vital for setting up Google Postmaster Tools and ensuring accurate data tracking.
- Brand Reputation Building: A dedicated sending domain allows you to build a distinct brand reputation, enhancing trust and improving deliverability over time.
- Avoiding 'via': Failing to finalize custom domain setup results in a 'via' notice, negatively impacting trust and deliverability.
What email marketers say
8 marketer opinions
A dedicated sending domain in Klaviyo is essential for obtaining accurate and actionable data from Google Postmaster Tools. By isolating your sending reputation, a dedicated domain ensures that the data you see directly reflects your sending practices, allowing you to effectively monitor performance, identify deliverability issues, and optimize your email strategy. Sharing a sending domain aggregates data across multiple users, making it difficult to isolate and address your specific issues, thus hindering your ability to improve deliverability.
Key opinions
- Accurate Data: Dedicated domains provide accurate and sender-specific data in Google Postmaster Tools, enabling effective monitoring of email performance.
- Reputation Control: Having a dedicated domain isolates your sending reputation, crucial for building and maintaining a positive brand image.
- Deliverability Insights: Dedicated domains allow for clear insights into deliverability issues and help in promptly addressing and resolving them.
- Actionable Metrics: Dedicated domains ensure that the metrics provided by Google Postmaster Tools are actionable and reflective of your specific email campaigns.
- Optimization: Dedicated domains provide the necessary data to optimize email strategy and maximize deliverability effectiveness.
Key considerations
- Setup: Properly authenticating your sending domain is the crucial first step when setting up Google Postmaster Tools.
- Shared Domain Limitations: Data from shared domains is aggregated, making it impossible to assess individual performance and address sender-specific issues effectively.
- Brand Reputation: A dedicated domain facilitates the building of a distinct brand reputation, which is crucial for earning trust and improving deliverability.
Marketer view
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that dedicated sending domains are key to accurate Google Postmaster Tools data because they isolate your sending reputation. This allows you to accurately track your sending practices and quickly address issues as they arise.
26 Nov 2024 - StackOverflow
Marketer view
Email marketer from Mailjet Blog answers that having a dedicated sending domain ensures that all the data you see in Google Postmaster Tools directly reflects your sending practices and reputation. When you share a domain, the data is an aggregate and less actionable.
10 Jun 2025 - Mailjet
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Using a dedicated sending domain with Klaviyo is crucial for obtaining accurate and actionable data from Google Postmaster Tools. Failing to properly set up a dedicated domain means sharing IPs with other senders, negatively impacting your reputation, and potentially causing a 'via' label to appear. Experts emphasize the importance of signing DKIM with your own domain instead of Klaviyo's, as this allows you to cultivate and protect your reputation and isolates it from other senders. Without a dedicated domain, Google Postmaster Tools data is not available or is inaccurate, making it difficult to monitor and address deliverability issues.
Key opinions
- DKIM Signing: Signing DKIM with your own domain, not Klaviyo's, is essential for proper setup.
- Reputation Isolation: Dedicated domains allow senders to cultivate and protect their sending reputation, avoiding negative impacts from other senders.
- Data Availability: Google Postmaster Tools data is either not available or inaccurate without a dedicated sending domain.
- 'via' Indicator: Improperly setting up a dedicated domain can result in a 'via' label in emails, indicating a lack of proper domain authentication.
Key considerations
- Custom DKIM: Ensure you are signing custom DKIM from Klaviyo using your own domain.
- Reputation Management: Implement strategies to actively manage and monitor your sending reputation once a dedicated domain is set up.
- Setup Finalization: Finalize the custom sending domain setup within Klaviyo to avoid the 'via' indicator and ensure accurate Google Postmaster Tools data.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that having a dedicated sending domain allows senders to cultivate and protect their reputation. Sharing sending domains mixes your sending reputation with the sending reputation of others which isn't beneficial.
13 Mar 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the 'via' indicates that the brand did not finalize custom sending domain setup in Klaviyo, without which Google Postmaster Tools data will not be available. They strongly advise Klaviyo users to set up their custom domain to sign DKIM as themselves instead of as Klaviyo and links to documentation.
29 Dec 2021 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
According to documentation from Klaviyo, Google, SparkPost, and SendGrid, a dedicated sending domain is essential for accurately leveraging Google Postmaster Tools data. It enables full control over your sending reputation, facilitating accurate assessment of sending performance. Without a dedicated domain, you share a sending domain with other users, diluting the data and making it difficult to identify and resolve sender-specific deliverability issues. Crucially, Google tracks sender reputation at the domain level, making a dedicated domain a prerequisite for meaningful data and effective issue diagnosis.
Key findings
- Reputation Control: Dedicated domains provide full control over sending reputation.
- Accurate Assessment: Dedicated domains enable accurate assessment of sending performance in Google Postmaster Tools.
- Data Dilution: Shared domains dilute data, making it harder to identify specific deliverability issues.
- Domain-Level Tracking: Google tracks sender reputation at the domain level.
Key considerations
- Dedicated IP vs. Domain: While dedicated IPs are related, the primary benefit for Google Postmaster Tools is the dedicated sending domain itself.
- Reputation Management: Implementing practices to build and maintain a strong sending reputation is key to maximizing the benefits of a dedicated domain.
- Issue Diagnosis: A dedicated domain allows for more effective diagnosis of deliverability problems specific to your sending practices.
Technical article
Documentation from SendGrid explains that while a dedicated IP is often associated with dedicated domains, the primary benefit for Google Postmaster Tools is the dedicated sending domain itself. This ensures accurate tracking of your sender reputation and deliverability metrics.
18 Dec 2024 - SendGrid
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost highlights that a dedicated sending domain enables you to build and maintain a strong sender reputation. This is critical for getting accurate data from Google Postmaster Tools, as Google tracks reputation at the domain level. Shared domains dilute the data, making it harder to diagnose deliverability problems specific to your sending practices.
27 Jan 2022 - SparkPost
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