How to Set Up a BIMI Record for Email Deliverability

BIMI (pronounced bih-mee — Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is the email standard that puts your company's logo next to authenticated messages in the inbox. If you've ever seen a blue checkmark and a brand logo beside an email in Gmail, that's BIMI working.

It matters for deliverability because a logo signals trust. Mailbox providers track engagement — opens, clicks, replies — as a measure of whether recipients want your mail. When recipients see a recognizable brand logo instead of a generic avatar, they're more likely to open. Higher engagement tells Gmail and Outlook your mail is wanted, which improves long-term inbox placement.

What BIMI requires

BIMI has four prerequisites:

1. DMARC enforcement — your DMARC policy must be p=quarantine or p=reject. BIMI won't work with p=none because mailbox providers need proof you're policing domain spoofing.
2. SPF and DKIM — your email must pass either SPF or DKIM alignment for DMARC. If DMARC is passing, this is already handled.
3. A brand logo in SVG Tiny PS format — standard SVG won't work. The logo must use the SVG Tiny Portable/Secure profile with no external resources, scripts, or embedded fonts.
4. A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) — Gmail requires a VMC for your logo to display. Other providers (Fastmail, Yahoo) display logos without one, but Gmail is the largest inbox by far. A VMC costs roughly $1,000–$1,500 per year from an authorized provider like DigiCert.

Step-by-step BIMI setup

Step 1: Confirm DMARC enforcement

Check your DMARC policy at emailsecuritygrade.com. Your record needs a p=quarantine or p=reject tag. If you're still on p=none, BIMI won't display anything.

example.com  TXT  "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@example.com"

If you're not ready for quarantine or reject, start with the DMARC record setup guide and move from p=none to p=quarantine once you've confirmed legitimate mail passes.

Step 2: Prepare your logo

Convert your logo to SVG Tiny PS (Portable/Secure) format. This is a restricted SVG variant that:

• Embeds all content in a single file (no external fonts, images, or CSS)
• Strips scripts and interactive elements
• Uses a flat color palette (no gradients that break in email clients)

Use a free BIMI logo converter (EasyDMARC and others offer one) or hand it off to a designer who knows the SVG Tiny PS spec. The final file should be a clean, square logo at a reasonable resolution — Gmail recommends at least 100×100 pixels.

Host the logo at a public HTTPS URL. Your website's /images/ directory works fine:

https://example.com/images/logo-bimi.svg

Step 3: Obtain a VMC (for Gmail)

A Verified Mark Certificate is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that's been validated by the AuthIndicators Working Group. DigiCert is the most widely used provider.

The VMC process:

• Submit your company registration documents (proof your brand is legally registered)
• Provide your logo file for verification (it must match what's trademarked)
• Pay the annual fee ($1,000–$1,500)

The CA issues a .pem certificate file. Host it alongside your logo at a public HTTPS URL:

https://example.com/.well-known/vmc.pem

Step 4: Add the BIMI DNS record

Create a TXT record at default._bimi.example.com. The basic format:

default._bimi.example.com  TXT  "v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/images/logo-bimi.svg; a=https://example.com/.well-known/vmc.pem"

If you don't have a VMC yet, you can publish the record with just the logo URL (some providers will show it without the VMC):

default._bimi.example.com  TXT  "v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/images/logo-bimi.svg"

Step 5: Verify

Use a BIMI record checker tool to confirm your record is valid and your logo loads. Gmail can take up to 48 hours to start showing the logo after DNS propagates.

Send a test email from your domain to a Gmail address. If DMARC passes and the BIMI record is correct, your logo should appear beside the message in the Gmail web and mobile apps.

Does BIMI actually help deliverability?

BIMI doesn't directly affect spam filtering — it won't improve your sender score or bypass spam filters on its own. The benefit is indirect but real:

• Brand recognition drives engagement. Recipients who see your logo open at higher rates. Gmail's algorithm treats opens and clicks as positive signals.
• DMARC enforcement is a prerequisite. Setting up BIMI forces you to move DMARC from monitoring to enforcement, which is itself a strong deliverability signal.
• Phishing resistance. When recipients learn to look for your logo, they're less likely to engage with lookalike domains — protecting your domain reputation.

The strongest deliverability play is combining BIMI with solid email authentication (DMARC enforcement, proper SPF alignment, DKIM signing) and a warm-up strategy that generates real engagement signals on a new or repaired domain.

Check your grade free

Don't guess what's broken — see it. Scan your domain free at emailsecuritygrade.com and get an instant A–F grade on your SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MX records, with a plain-language fix for anything failing. No signup, no install — it runs in your browser.

If your emails are still landing in spam after fixing the records, a deliverability tool like InboxAlly can train mailbox providers to trust your sending — worth a look once your grade is solid.