# Set up email on a GoDaddy domain

_Where GoDaddy keeps a domain's DNS records, what its Add New Record form calls each field, the MX records its own email products leave behind, and the identity check Domain Protection asks for before a record saves. About ten minutes at GoDaddy, in two visits._

Published 22 September 2026

## Is GoDaddy your DNS host?

If you bought the domain at GoDaddy and have not changed its nameservers, yes: they read `ns01.domaincontrol.com`, `ns02.domaincontrol.com` and so on, and the **DNS** page under the domain is where the records go. If they name another company — `ns.cloudflare.com`, `vercel-dns.com` — the records go there instead, and [that host's guide](https://www.imado.cloud/guides) is the one to follow.

## Where the records go

1. Sign in at godaddy.com and open your **Domain Portfolio**.
2. Select the domain to open its **Domain Settings** page.
3. Select **DNS**. Every record on the domain is listed, and **Add New Record** opens the form above them.

## What GoDaddy calls each field

| On imado | On GoDaddy | What to put |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Type | Type | Choose it from the Type menu: TXT, CNAME or MX. The fields under it change with it. |
| Host | Name | The prefix, without your domain — GoDaddy adds .example.com itself. For the MX record it is @, which means the domain itself. |
| Value | Value | Exactly as shown, copied with the button. |
| Priority | Priority | Appears once Type is MX. 10. |
| — | TTL | Leave it at 1 hour. |

## What to put for the domain itself

One record — the MX record, the one that makes mail arrive — belongs to the domain itself rather than to anything in front of it. Every DNS panel has its own way of saying that, and instructions written for a different one are the usual reason a correct-looking MX record receives nothing.

**On GoDaddy, type `@`.** GoDaddy's own instructions for every record type say the same thing: enter `@` to put the record on your root domain. The **Name** field is described as the prefix, *without* the domain name.

Leaving it blank is not the same thing here, and typing `example.com` is worse: GoDaddy appends your domain, so it becomes `example.com.example.com`, saves cleanly, and answers nothing.

The other five records all have something in front of the domain — `_imado-challenge`, `_dmarc`, the three `_domainkey` names — and those go in **Name** exactly as shown, with no domain after them. One GoDaddy rule to know while you are there: a CNAME's **Name** may never be `@`, which is why only the MX record uses it.

## Add the six records

First the ownership record; then, once imado shows it as **Added**, the other five. Each is one press of **Save**. **Add More Records** lets you stage several rows at once and save them together with **Save All Records** — useful for the three CNAME records, as long as you finish with the save.

**As typed into GoDaddy**

| Type | Name | Value | Priority |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TXT | `_imado-challenge` | `imado-verification=…` | — |
| CNAME | `…._domainkey` | `….dkim.amazonses.com` | — |
| CNAME | `…._domainkey` | `….dkim.amazonses.com` | — |
| CNAME | `…._domainkey` | `….dkim.amazonses.com` | — |
| MX | `@` | `inbound-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | 10 |
| TXT | `_dmarc` | `v=DMARC1; p=none;` | — |

_The last row is optional. The three CNAME hosts and answers are different for every domain, and the ownership value is yours alone — copy them from your domain's page on imado._

## What gets in the way

- **GoDaddy's own email, still holding the MX records.** GoDaddy sells Microsoft 365 and Professional Email, and adds the MX records for them itself when a domain is connected to one. Those records stay behind after a trial lapses. They point at names ending `mail.protection.outlook.com` or `secureserver.net`; delete them before adding imado's. Two sets of MX records on one domain send some mail each way.
- **Domain Protection asking who you are.** If the domain has Domain Protection, GoDaddy will not save a DNS change until you pass an identity check — a code by SMS or from your authenticator app if two-step verification has been on for a day or more, otherwise a one-time password sent to the email address on your GoDaddy account. Have that to hand before you start, because the record is not saved until the code is entered.
- **A staged row that was never saved.** **Add More Records** keeps new rows on screen looking finished. Nothing exists until **Save All Records**.
- **The name typed in full.** GoDaddy appends your domain to whatever is in **Name**. `_dmarc.example.com` in that field becomes `_dmarc.example.com.example.com`, saves without complaint, and is never found. Type `_dmarc`.

## Then, on imado

Back on your domain's page, press **Check again**. GoDaddy says most changes take effect within an hour, and they are usually much quicker than that. When the ownership record is **Added**, the other records appear; when those are, create the mailbox and send yourself a message — [steps 5 and 6 of the setup](https://www.imado.cloud/docs/get-started#5-create-a-mailbox).

GoDaddy's own guides cover [MX records](https://www.godaddy.com/help/add-an-mx-record-19234) and [TXT records](https://www.godaddy.com/help/add-a-txt-record-19232).

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Source: https://www.imado.cloud/guides/godaddy-email · Site summary: https://www.imado.cloud/llms.txt