Setting a custom tracking domain on your outreach emails:
- improves deliverability, preventing email blocking and spam folder issues
- improves the branding of your links
- increases your click-through rate
- protects you from reputation issues caused by spammers.
If you want to skip the article because you already know you want to set up a tracking domain, here’s how:
- Create a sub-domain of your domain, like link.domain.com, and set a CNAME record in your DNS system to point it to x.gmtrack.net.
- Test your tracking domain by “pinging” it and ensuring it “pings” x.gmtrack.net. You can use a web-based ping tool.
- Go to the GMass tracking settings in the GMass dashboard and enter your tracking domain.
- GMass will automatically obtain an SSL certificate for your tracking domain to serve secure tracking links.
Keep on reading if you want to fully understand the importance of a tracking domain.
And/or check out our video…
Custom Tracking Domains: An Overview
I’ve written extensively in the past about the importance of having a dedicated tracking domain for your GMass account. And you can set your tracking domain all on your own. You’ll just need to implement the DNS setup for it first.
What is a custom tracking domain?
A custom tracking domain is your own, unique domain or subdomain which you use exclusively to track opens and clicks in your emails. Custom tracking domains help preserve your sender reputation, increase deliverability, and can even help improve click-through rates.
If you don’t have a tracking domain set up and you’re tracking opens or clicks in your emails, you’re using a shared tracking domain. While we work tirelessly at GMass to keep these shared tracking domains clean and reputable, occasionally a bad actor can slip through the cracks and may use the shared tracking domains in a spam campaign. That can affect your reputation — since your email will now contain the same tracking domain as the spammer.
That scenario won’t happen with a custom tracking domain. The only emails with the custom tracking domain are your own — so no one else can drag down your reputation. Plus, as we’ll cover later in this article, there are plenty of other benefits as well.
Checking your tracking domain
If you’re a Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) or Gmail user using GMass for your email marketing campaigns, you may notice that one of several domains, including gmreg.net, gmapp.net, or amazonaws.com is used in your emails’ open tracking, click tracking, and unsubscribe link elements.
That means: If you hover over a tracked link before clicking it, and observe the URL that it points to, you’ll see that it points to amazonaws.com, and then this redirects to the actual destination URL.
You should swap out the default tracking domain for your organization’s own domain. If your domain is mycompany.com, for example, you should set up link.mycompany.com, or x.mycompany.com or news.mycompany.com and use that branded tracking domain with GMass.
There is some technical setup required to make this happen though. Specifically you have to add a DNS record (a CNAME record) with your chosen host aliasing to “x.gmtrack.net.”
See the “How to set up” section below for instructions on how to do that.
What will my recipients see?
The tracking domain is only visible by people receiving your email if they hover/click on any of your tracked links or if they hover/visit your unsubscribe link. The tracking domain is also present in the open-tracking pixel, but this isn’t visible to recipients, unless they take a deep look at your email by viewing its source, but hardly anybody does that.
If you’re a rare user who will be turning both open and click tracking off, and if you’re not placing an unsubscribe link in your emails, then you can ignore this guide, because a tracking domain will never appear in your emails. If you’re like 99% of mailers though, you’re using at least one of those three features, and so a tracking domain is relevant.
What Are the Benefits of Setting Up Your Own Tracking Domain?
There are two major benefits to setting up a branded tracking domain:
1. A branded tracking domain creates a more trustworthy impression to your email recipients. Savvy Internet users hover over links before clicking them, and seeing the domain with which they’re familiar (your organization’s domain) as opposed to GMass’s default tracking domain can go a long way in increasing trust, and ultimately increasing your click-through rate.
The world’s biggest brands use ESPs (Email Service Providers) to send their email marketing campaigns, and they all employ branded tracking domains instead of the default Email Service Provider tracking domain. (Here’s an example I just grabbed from my inbox.)
2. Setting up a branded tracking domain isolates your reputation from the reputation of other GMass users for deliverability purposes.
Meaning, if a spammer slips through the cracks and sends a campaign with GMass… and the spammer’s emails contain the default GMass tracking domain…. and this causes the default tracking domain to be listed by a domain-based spam blacklist… and if your emails contain the same tracking domain… that could affect the deliverability of your emails. If, however, you set up a branded tracking domain, that only your users use, you can protect yourself from being adversely affected by another user’s actions.
Are you a regular Gmail user, not a Google Workspace (G Suite) user?
Even if you’re not a Google Workspace user, you can take advantage of this feature if you manage your own domain and send email campaigns with GMass from a regular Gmail account (your email address is @gmail.com or @googlemail.com).
The default tracking domain used for regular Gmail accounts is “gmreg.net”, but if you manage your own domain, you can assign a branded tracking domain to an individual Gmail account similarly to how you can assign a branded tracking domain to an entire Google Apps domain. Follow the same setup procedures outlined next in this article.
How to Set Up Your Custom Tracking Domain
Decide whether you’ll use a subdomain or register a tracking domain from scratch
The best practice for setting up a tracking domain is to create a subdomain of a domain that has already been in existence for a while, because then it also has reputation associated with it. (A subdomain would be something like “link.yourdomain.com” or “x.yourdomain.com”.)
If you don’t have a domain that you can use for your tracking domain, or if you are unable to modify the DNS for your existing domain, then you can register a new one to use for this purpose.
Here is how you do that:
- Choose a domain name registrar. Our favorites are Namecheap and Hover, but feel free to use a more popular service like Register.com or GoDaddy if you’re more familiar with them. In my experience, Hover and Namecheap are simple, have intuitive user interfaces, are inexpensive, and provided good support. I would avoid Gandi.net.
- Pick the domain that you want to create as your tracking domain. If your organization is ABC Company, and your existing company domain is abccompany.com, you might pick abccompany.net (if it’s available), or abccompany.us. If the exact name isn’t available, you could pick a name like abccompanyemail.net. You can really pick any domain name that you like. While you can certainly pick a cheaper alternative like a .us domain, I recommend choosing a .net name because it’s shown to have the fewest issues with blacklistings.
- You don’t need any supplemental services offered by the domain registrar, like email hosting or a website. You just need the domain. You can choose the WHOIS protection if you want to protect your contact information, and most domain name registrars offer this for free.
- Once your name is registered, you are ready to set a CNAME record for your domain. You will find this in the “DNS Settings” of the registrar you’ve chosen. (See our list below for specific instructions for the most popular domain registrars.) It’s easier than it sounds! You’ll need to choose the “host”, which is the word before the domain you just registered. For example, if you choose a host of “view” and you registered abccompany.net, then your tracking domain will be view.abccompany.net. Whatever host you choose, set its CNAME to point to x.gmtrack.net (it used to be track.gmass.co but we’ve changed this now to x.gmtrack.net). After you’re done, your tracking domain will be host.yourdomain, or in this example, view.abccompany.net. You can test the tracking domain by going to it in the web browser, and it should immediately redirect to the GMass homepage or show you a message like “hello.”
- Once you know your tracking domain is working, the final step is to apply it to your GMass account.
You can use HSTS domains like .app and .dev
Most email service providers can’t handle HSTS domains, like .app and .dev, for tracking links. These are domains that force the use of HTTPS and don’t allow any requests to be served over HTTP — and most email providers only serve tracking links over HTTP.
GMass is one of the few email service providers — and, we believe, the only cold email platform — that serves tracking links over HTTPS. So feel free to use any of the HSTS domains for your tracking links.
Adding a CNAME record with your domain registrar, web host, or DNS provider
It’s time to create a CNAME record for your chosen host and set it up so the tracking domain aliases to x.gmtrack.net.
If you don’t know what a CNAME record is, you may need to consult your webmaster or domain administrator. Here’s a Google Support page on how to set up a CNAME record.
Here are instructions for setting up a CNAME record at some of the most popular registrars:
- Google Domains
- GoDaddy
- Namecheap
- Domain.com
- DreamHost
- HostGator
- Bluehost
- Hover
- Dynadot
- For Cloudflare… see below
How to do this with Cloudflare
Cloudflare is our least favorite DNS provider, because it takes some trickery to set up proper DNS records with them. Cloudflare attempts to rewrite the Domain Name System’s rules, and it usually causes trouble for users who want to create simple DNS records with them.
If you set up your CNAME record with Cloudflare, be sure to click the “orange cloud” icon to make it gray. That removes Cloudflare as a proxy and makes your CNAME a true CNAME record. No other DNS provider requires this extra step — only Cloudflare. What’s my favorite DNS provider? We use DNSMadeEasy for all of our domains, including gmass.co.
Test your tracking domain to make sure it’s working
After you’ve set up the new CNAME record, visit your new tracking domain in the browser. You should see a page that looks like this, or maybe one just saying “hello.”
You can also “ping” your tracking domain and see if the x.gmtrack.net IP address is pinged. On Windows, open up a Command Prompt and type “ping your-tracking-domain”. On a Mac, open up Terminal and do the same. I’ve set up link.wordzen.com to be the tracking domain for my own GMass account, for example, so I “ping link.wordzen.com” and see if the ping shows a connection to x.gmtrack.net:
If it’s not working yet, try giving it a few hours. DNS records like CNAME can sometimes take a few hours (even up to eight hours) to propagate.
After you’ve completed the DNS setup, you must submit your tracking domain to GMass.
Set your dedicated tracking domain in GMass
Set your tracking domain in the GMass dashboard.
Just go to this direct tracking domain link. Login if you’re not already logged in, and you’ll be taken to the Tracking section.
Note: For instant approval, your tracking domain must either be new to the system or contain the domain of your Google Workspace email address. Meaning, if you are [email protected], your tracking domain should be something like link.abcwidgets.com. If your email address domain and your tracking domain don’t match and the tracking domain has already been assigned to at least one other user, your request will be sent for approval to users who are already assigned to that tracking domain. One of those users must then approve your request.
If you want to clear your custom tracking domain so your mailings revert to the system shared tracking domain, use the “clear” option next to the form where your tracking domain is set.
After you’ve set up your tracking domain, GMass will start the process of acquiring an SSL certificate, so your links are served securely. You’ll get an email once everything is set up. (In my test, it took seven minutes from inputting my custom tracking domain to getting the email.)
We monitor blacklists for you
Now that your custom tracking domain is set up, there’s really nothing else you have to do. GMass will automatically use that domain for your open tracking pixel, your tracked links, and your unsubscribe link.
And GMass will also watch for blacklists.
Domains used in bulk email sometimes end up on domain blacklists, and as soon as you set your custom tracking domain with GMass, we add it to our monitoring system. GMass checks blacklists for our users’ tracking domains every few hours. Specifically, we check the URIBL, SURBL, and Spamhaus DBL lists for your tracking domain and receive a notification within hours if your tracking domain is listed. We will then manually reach out to you with some recommended measures. See our comprehensive guide on domain blacklists to learn more.
Additionally, if you haven’t set up a custom tracking domain, in order to prevent abuse of our default tracking domains, we check every URL in your campaign against the SURBL and Spamhaus DBL. Why do we do this? Sometimes phishers and scammers attempt to mask a known phishing domain by using the click-tracking feature of an email service provider like GMass, which replaces the phishing domain with the tracking domain and making the link look legitimate.
This is abusive, so we monitor our users to ensure that domains used in click-tracked links are not on blacklists. If our systems detect you have a domain in your email that’s on a blacklist, we’ll reach out to you. We are aware that sometimes domains appear on blacklists that aren’t involved in spam.
Note to Users Who Were Part of GMass’s Old Tracking Domain Setup
A while back, we sunsetted our program where we provide dedicated tracking domains to users who are unable to set one up based on their own domain. We decided to stop doing this because:
- The logistics of managing thousands of domains has become very difficult. Registering them and keeping track of renewals is time consuming.
- The renewal costs for domains has become cost-prohibitive. Typically we chose inexpensive domain extensions like .us, .info, and .website, where we’d be able to register a domain for a user for as little as $0.88 USD, but while registration is inexpensive, the renewal in the subsequent year is often $8 USD or more. Since we’ve never charged users for a dedicated tracking domain, the renewal cost is too much to bear.
- While using a dedicated tracking domain is still important to protect your reputation from that of all other GMass users and achieve high deliverability, we think that it’s much easier, and better for your reputation, if you set this up based on your own domain or register a new one from scratch.
Along with no longer registering domains for users, we will also be letting existing tracking domains that were provided by us to our users, to expire. In order to coordinate a seamless transition back to the GMass shared tracking domains, and so open and click tracking continues to work seamlessly for your email campaigns, we will be removing the dedicated tracking domain assignment from your accounts approximately one month BEFORE the domain expires, so that the lag time between when the most recent campaign with the tracking domain was sent and when the domain expires is enough that it won’t affect people clicking on links.
We Can Set Up a Custom Tracking Domain For You
If you’re already a paying subscriber, for a flat fee of $50, our support reps will set this up for you so you don’t need to busy yourself with the technical details. Just fill out this form to get started.
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Ajay is the founder of GMass and has been developing email sending software for 20 years.
Great, the unsusbcribe link will also go with my own domain?
Yes, absolutely. This will apply to the unsubscribe link, the open tracking pixel, and click-tracking.
set its CNAME to point to x.gmtrack.net
what do you mean exactly?
how to do that?
Hi Ajay, If possible could you please assign a dedicated tracking domain to Port Melbourne Colts Football Club..The error message coming up is that we have reached our limit..We normally send 189 to 192 emails on a average each week.
Maree McDonald [email protected]
could you add screenshots?
Hi. Just a silly question:
If I send to a group of say 500 people, and in the "to" field add the group name instead of each email address individually – does GMass still send to each individual address on the list or will it send as a bulk?
Hi Ajay, great product. I've sent a couple campaigns but I don't see that the links have a assigned GMass URL (for tracking). Instead they just have the exact intended URL. Is there something I'm doing incorrectly? I plan to setup our own custom domain but was hoping to make sure links were being tracked correctly to begin with. Thanks.
You're likely running into this issue: http://blog.gmass.co/2016/01/gmail-click-tracking-and-phishing.html
It would be a REAL GOOD THING to have a model CNAME statement in this article.
Agreed. I’m staring at the “Custom Resource Records” section of my domain in Google Domains, but I have no idea what to put in for the values.
When selecting “CNAME” from the record type, you are asked to provide 3 sets of values: “Name,” “TTL” and “Data” Which of these 3 gets the x.gmtrack.net? Does a record in addition to the CNAME need to be created?
Hi Luke,
Just wanted to help out here. For my site, http://www.flyingvgroup.com, I set up email.flyingvgroup.com. Here were the configurations for the CNAME:
Name: email.flyingvgroup.com
TTL: 14400
Data: x.gmtrack.net
Hope this helps!
Thank you Robb!
Hi Robb,
I did the exact same thing with my Namechep domain
For me it is Host and Value
Host is contact.cloudmedia.club
value:x.gmtrack.net
And TTl is automatic
Not able to ping it even after 72 hours
Can you kindly help?
Hi Ajay, this may be a bit of a noob question but would there be a risk that our tracking domain could be used by anyone else? I guess my concern is that IF someone could then this could be severely harmful to our businesses domain.
Hi Ajay….i cant get my godaddy domain name added to my g suite gmass account. I signed up for g suite 14 day trial.
Godaddy domain pro-art.online Used the DNS with go daddy CNAME etc..but it will not add to my gmass account.
Any ideas? i am so frustrated,
Thanks
Jason Higgins
Hi Jason,
Please contact our support team directly as we would need to request for screenshots of your DNS entry in your GoDaddy DNS settings. Please see gmass.co/g/support
This isn't possible, because we would have to manually approve the assignment of a tracking domain to an account, when the domain of the tracking domain doesn't match the domain of the Google Apps account.
Hi AJ,
Thanks a lot for your great posts.
I had planned to send emails which include a link (not a hyperlink) to my website set up as a submdomain “collaborate.domain-name.com”.
Would this work to avoid domain-based email blocking?
Thanks,
Giorgio
I can understand till this point “For example, if you choose a host of “view”
Can I make the host anything or does it need to be something specific like your used view?
It can be any combination of alphanumeric characters.
Yeah, I don’t understand these last two steps either…
Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support. We’ll be happy to give you a hand getting this set up.
Question:
I want my own tracking domain BUT have a Gmail e-mail address. How can I request one?
You’ll still need to set up a CNAME record to create a tracking domain. Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support if you have more questions or don’t have a domain that you manage.
Hi created new CNAME & got approved by GMASS that I have custom tracking domain but all my emails are still ending up in spam folders when sending. Please help
Hi, I use gmass with a normal gmail, but now I need to use gmass with a domain email connected to gmail client. Is it possible?
Yes – Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support
It’s a bit irritating that after paying for GMass I have to do this to make it actually work. It really should have been mentioned up front. And “one simple step” is plainly a lie. This is my first moth using gmass and will likely be my last.
Hi John,
I’m sorry you feel that way. We try to make it as simple as possible (and even offer to set it up for you if you don’t feel technically able) – we developed this feature to ensure the deliverability our users prefer. If you want me to set up your CNAME record for you, Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support
Hello Maya, this is a different John but I’m having the same problem. Issues with the cname record. Would it be possible to set mine up for me? John
´Can you Plz help me to?
3D cart set up my tracking domain CNAME: email.emerges.com.
I sent it to you all as instructed and you approved it.
Now what do I do? Do I have to embed the CNAME into each email that I compose or how does it work?
No idea what any of this means. I just send out press releases… so confused…
Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support – they’ll be happy to help you out with this.
On Goddady.com they ask the TTL. What is it? They suggest 1 hour, is it good?
Hi
I have purchased a Gmass for one of my business emails set up through my website. I am curious if a bundle package exists for other email accounts under the same domain? We have a total of 5 accounts. Does gmail offer any type of package deal. Even for 3 of us that need it the most. Thank you
Hi Colleen,
GMass subscriptions are per Gmail or G Suite account, and GMass doesn’t care what alias addresses are connected to a single account. So if you have all of your aliases on the various domains set up in a single Gmail account, and that single Gmail account is subscribed to GMass, then you are able to send from all of those different alias addresses with a single GMass subscription.
If, however, those aliases are spread across multiple Gmail accounts, then you would need a subscription for each of those Gmail accounts.
can I Use a regular gmail account to set up a custom tracking domain such as deals.gmail.com
if my email is [email protected]?
Hi Brandon,
Yes you can.
One small suggestion, I recently set up 2 trackings for 2 different aliases on my single gmail account. The notification and the email notification both make reference to it being successful on my [email protected] but make no reference to the domain that was added or the corresponding domain email aliases I am hoping to attach it to. Perhaps the notification of success could be more explicit by adding this information to the notification.
Hi Ben,
Thank you for your recommendation. I’ll be sure to pass it along to Ajay to see if it’s something we can fit in our roadmap ahead.
olá boa tarde
eu posso usar meu site
com domino hotsgato ??? email
@domino.com.br
Hi Danilo,
I’ve responded to your ticket directly.
Is there any step by step how to get CNAME and set it up for wix.com ?
Hi Rahul,
Each registrar has their own system for editing DNS records.
After a quick Google search – I’ve stumbled on this article from Wix that details how to edit records with their system.
https://support.wix.com/en/article/adding-dns-records-in-your-wix-account
Hi,
I followed Go-Daddy’s instructions for creating a DNS record. I have a gmail (not G-Suite) account and used three default tracking domains:
x.gmtrack.net
gmreg.net
link.gmreg5.net
When I “ping” them in the terminal prompt in my mac, I get this error message:
cannot resolve link.nesawg.org: Unknown host
Can you tell me what I might be doing wrong?
Hi Tracy,
Please try these settings:
Type: CNAME
Host: link
Points to: x.gmtrack.net
TTL: leave at 1 Hour default
Click save. To test if it’s working, go to your browser and go to link.nesawg.org. If it forwards you to the GMass website then your CNAME entry has been successfully added.
Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support with a screenshot of the DNS record your setting up for the CNAME entry if you’re still running into issues.
No, that’s not how you set up subdomains in GoDaddy if your website is hosted by another company. I figured it out. If GoDaddy owns your domain name but your subdomain is hosted elsewhere, you have to go to the DNS record management page, click on the last page of the records, scroll down PAST the listed records to nameserver, and when you get to the box on the right that says Forwarding, enter the subdomain you want to forward in the “subdomain” and the appropriate GMass URL from the article above. I don’t have a G-Suite Account so I used gmreg.net. Seemed to ping on Terminal but does not go to a registered domain name, so I’m going to test again and see if I need to use the other URL provided.
Tracy, I am trying this now.
Hi Tracy,
The instructions I’ve provided is how you would set up a CNAME entry for GMass – since we are going to be using a subdomain such as track.yourdomain.com to be used as your tracking domain and pointing it to the GMass tracking URL (x.gmreg.net or x.gmtrack.net)
I’m not following…I’m trying to do the same thing and I have my domain (esacompliance.org) with GoDaddy but the site is hosted with wpEngine. I do have Gsuite. I went into the forwarding area as you mentioned and put form as the “subdomain” and then x.gmtrack.net in the “forwards to” area and clicked save. Now when I go to my address bar and type in form.esacompliance.org it takes me to Gmass. Does this mean I’m all setup correctly? I don’t believe so though because when I ping form.esacompliance.org in my terminal nothing comes back. VERY CONFUSED!!
Hi JJ,
Forwarding the subdomain is incorrect. You will need to create a CNAME (alias) which points to x.gmtrack.net. Please see GoDaddy instructions on how to add a CNAME entry here: https://ph.godaddy.com/help/add-a-cname-record-19236
Hello please i,m having issues setting up my custom tracking domain for gmass,,i don’t have a website but i purchased a domain from godaddy
Hi Fortune,
Please contact our support team through http://gmass.co/g/support so we can assist you in setting up your custom tracking domain.
I registered one subdomain and set a value for CNAME to x.gmtrack.net. Also I get email for tracking domain which has been assigned to my account.
In this moment I can’t see any changes. In my campaigns sender is mail gmail account not email from my tracking domain.
What I missunderstood?
Hi J.J.,
A tracking domain does not change the account from which you are sending from. If you’re click tracking your links in the body of your emails, the links are altered so that the GMass server is hit first to record the click, and that’s done by way of the tracking domain. Unless you’ve set up your own custom tracking domain, GMass uses shared tracking domains across accounts.
When I try to compose the message I don’t have a GMass button to click on.
Hi Valerie,
Please see https://www.gmass.co/blog/troubleshoot-missing-gmass-button/
Here is a screenshot of my CNAME record setup inside of GoDaddy: https://screencast.com/t/yDwpKREhWg and also here is a screenshot of the Subdomain forwarding area: https://screencast.com/t/Ih0y8EoSF
Can you please tell me what is wrong here. I’m trying to have my tracking link be form.esacompliance.org
Hi JJ,
You will need to create a CNAME it is found in your domain’s DNS settings. It is not simply forwarding to x.gmtrack.net your subdomain. There’s an article you can refer to from GoDaddy found here: godaddy.com/help/add-a-cname-record-19236
Адрес не найден
Сообщение не доставлено, так как адрес [email protected] не найден или не принимает входящие письма.
Что делать? Может адрес изменился?
Hi,
Please make sure you click the GMass button instead of the Gmail send button.
Hello – my emails to [email protected] are bouncing. why?
Hi R,
Please use the GMass button instead of the Gmail send button.
I’m using Gmass button for tracking but its failed.
I followed the instructions to send to [email protected] by using the Gmass button. and the email bounced. gave me an error message. I tried it again. did you get the request?
HI David,
Please make sure to click on the GMass button instead of the send button as [email protected] is not a valid email address but a command that is sent to GMass when used with the GMass button.
I’ve just integrated with Sendgrid and setup custom domain tracking, all is good there. My question is: If I already had a campaign running with auto-follow-ups, will my tracking domain be applied to those upon sending, or have they already been assigned the standard Gmass tracking domain, in which case I would need to cancel the campaign?
KzHR78CN Yd4U8 lHn
Guys! Does this tool still work ? I have set up the SMTP server with sendgrid, created a Cname and pointed it to >> x.gmtrack.net , however the emails that i send as a test to my other emal adress are landing in the spam folder. What am i missing ?
There are numerous factors that can affect this. Reasons that an email platform filter your emails as spam varies from one platform to another. The best way to check what the reason is provided is to test sending to a Gmail account of your own. If the email ends up in spam, see if a reason is provided, like in the example below:
https://www.gmass.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Gmail-Spam-Folder-From-Address.gif
For more troubleshooting steps please see https://www.gmass.co/blog/spam-folder-email-blocking-issue-determine-cause/
I have a standard gmail address, and I sent up my CNAME on my domain, but when I try to send the email, I keep getting this error notice: “Uh oh, something went wrong. Here is the detailed error: We couldn’t find a CNAME entry for email.angiekillianrealestate.com pointing to x.gmtrack.net. If you need help resolving this, please contact support at [email protected].”
Hi Angie,
Please contact our support team at https://www.gmass.co/blog/how-to-get-support-from-the-gmass-team/
I have the same problem.
I have Subscribed for two emails with gmass. Now to create a tracking domain can i make two CNAME in the same domain & would it work perfect. or i have to purchase two domain for my two emails.
Hi Fayaz,
No, you can use the same domain for both subscriptions. You can have each one to use different hostnames.
For example, you can use something like track.yourdomain.com and mailtrack.yourdomain.com both pointing to x.gmtrack.net so you won’t have to purchase another domain.
I have a regular gmail account and cannot figure out the CNAME record. I contacted name cheap and they said “You can setup CNAME with us only for domain based email addresses.”
These instructions are not very clear for those using regular gmail accts. Please help with this.
Thank you.
Hi Brenda,
If you have your own domain already registered, you’ll just need to add a CNAME entry in your domain’s DNS settings that points to x.gmtrack.net. If you run into any issues or have difficulties, Please contact our support team at https://www.gmass.co/blog/how-to-get-support-from-the-gmass-team/ so we can address you directly.
I tried setting this up for Google Domains.
Did email.MYDOMAIN.com for the @ field
Then put 14400 for the TTL.
Set x.gmtrack.net for the DATA field.
Still cant ping email.MYDOMAIN.com. It is a Wix website and a Google Domain registrar. Any help?
Hi Amin,
If your Nameservers have been switched over to Wix, you’ll need to add the CNAME entry in Wix.
I have a Gmail account that has two “from” addresses: the Gmail account itself (call it: [email protected]) and an email alias on a different domain (call it: [email protected]).
When I try to set up a custom tracking domain for domain1.com, everything works perfectly.
However, when I change the default from address to [email protected] and try to set a different custom tracking domain for domain2.com the new tracking domain gets set for domain1.com instead.
Is there a way to set a custom tracking domain for domain2.com when the domain on the email address is only an alias, rather than the Gmail account itself?
Thanks,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Unfortunately, no, since the GMass subscription is connected to the main account (not the alias) so any changes such as adding a custom tracking domain would apply to the main account and any aliases under it.
Hi – I’m having trouble with the CNAME entry. I’m using SiteGround and I went into the cPanel and DNS editor and created the CNAME but I can’t ping it. It looks like this…
Name: email.mydomain.io
TTL: 14400
Class: IN
Type: CNAME
Record: x.gmtrack.net
Does the above look correct?
When I try pinging it from Command Prompt it says: “Ping request could not find host email.mydomain.io. Please check the name and try again.”
Please let me know what I’m doing wrong here.
Thanks!
Please ignore this comment. I tried it again and now everything works. I guess it takes 15min to go through. All set!
Hi Roman,
The host should always just be a single string such as email, view, or track and should not include your domain. In your case, the hostname should just be the word email without anything after it.
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this site.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability
and visual appearance. I must say that you’ve done a fantastic job
with this. In addition, the blog loads extremely
fast for me on Opera. Exceptional Blog!
Hi Marvin,
Where can I get the template, please? I just got confirmation that a dedicated server has been allocated for my tracking: do you still advise me to include links in my emails, or to remove them, to reduce the flagging?
Hi Nadine,
If you’ve recently added your tracking domain, you would want to send your email outreach that includes your tracking link first to just the previously blocked email addresses.
Your tutorials are cryptic, typical of web developers! You need bullet points, steps, one by one. Not just a vague paragraph with small text and screenshots….
Get a pro to make tutorials properly, and post them on youtube, I assure you, you will get many more subscribers!
Hi Bruno,
Thank you for your feedback. We are in the process of updating our tutorials to make it easier to follow.
Yes!
This is whats wrong with gmass!
Hi there,
I am just looking for clarification. my company website is reliablecapital.ca
can i register the domain name reliablecapital.CO if its available and use that for all my email marketing efforts. As in create new email address for this domain also and get a new gmass account.
Will that be the same as getting separate tracking domain. Or will I still need to do this CNAME stuff.
Cheers
Hi Jeevan,
You would still need to add the CNAME entry and set it as your tracking domain.
Hi,
Please let me know that if we can use sub domains also by changing the cname record to be used as tracking domain.
Hi Neeraj,
Unfortunately, no since the CNAME record forwards that subdomain to x.gmtrack.net for the tracking, you wouldn’t be able to use it as a normal subdomain that points to a different host.
Hi Ajay,
Can you please help me setting up branded tracking domain?
Hi John,
Please contact our Support Team and we’ll be more than happy to walk you through setting it up.
nowhere in the instructions does it specify what to use for the “Host” when setting up the CNAME?
the x.gmtrack.net is not working …. Has this changed?
ajay please help,
i don’t understand how to implement: host of “view” and tracking domain will be view.abccompany.net?
i have these entries already:
Type: CNAME
Name: gmass1
Value: x.gmtrack.net
TTL: 1 Hour
Type: CNAME
Name: mass
Value: x.gmtrack.net
TTL: 1 Hour
Thanks
Hi Guys, I am having a problem in sending a message to [email protected] to enable me to add my custom tracking domain to my account.
Do i need to verify my TXT code with my Domain Host for my G-suite eMail before this works or what am i doing wrong?
I will appreciate some help here,
Hi Alexeenko,
Please use [email protected]. Upon checking though, it doesn’t appear that you’ve added the CNAME entry in your domain’s DNS. Since you already have your domain, skip to step 4 in the following article: https://www.gmass.co/blog/register-tracking-domain-for-gmail-mail-merge/
How can I test if I am successful with setting the tracking domain?
Hi Eibeen,
You can send out a test email with tracking turned on to an email address you have access to. In the body of the email add a links.
Please note that with this format This link will be tracked while http://www.google.com will NOT be tracked.
Hi Elbeen,
You can send a test email with links using anchor text to an email address you have access to.
Google This link will be tracked and include your tracking domain
http://www.google.com This link will not be tracked.
This is because GMass only tracks links with anchor texts that are not the actual URL of the link.
Hi,
I have an email adress with my own domain name, my question is, can I use it as a tracking domain? If so, can I do that?
And/or is it possible to send it emails with my own domain name with gmass?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Micha,
Yes, you can use your own domain name by using a G Suite account connected to your domain.
I add GMass to my gmail account yesterday.. GMass asks me to send a test message to 10 GMass staffs.. I sent them a test message before I set my dedicated tracking domain in GMass.. Will that affect email deliverability? or it’s all good?
Hi Akhil,
No, sending your test campaign prior to having a custom tracking domain will not affect your deliverability but adding a custom tracking domain will surely help with deliverability and help prevent your emails from being blocked.
Hey Marvin,
Now, I read everything I need to know to make a dns record. Imma summarize it real quick. Could you please confirm if I am right?
1. I have to buy a domain (name of the domain doesn’t matter)
2. I have to set a CNAME record e.g “view” (without quotes of course^^)
3. I am sending an E-Mail with [email protected] in the to field and my
tracking domain in the Subject field.
4. As soon as I did this it is always my own tracking domain used unless I don’t send a mail to
[email protected] with the subject “clear” right?
Let’s say I bought the domain abccompany1. I set a CName record for my domain lets say “view”
Here is my question: If I want to apply this domain to my gmass account ( I am having a regular gmail Mailadress)
Do I then have to write “view.gmail.com” in the subject or “view.abccompany1.net”
Or is both possible and with the only difference that with the first option my tracking domain gets instantly approved? How long does it take to get tracking domains approved if it doesnt contain the domain of my gmail Mailadress?
If I set up everything properly will my Mails no longer be sent in the spam folder or is it just very likely that they dont end up in spam folders but depending on content (e.g links) still possible?
Thank you very much! Highly appreciate any help! 😉
Hi Lenard,
The steps you’ve listed are good, however, please make sure the TO address is [email protected] (not .com). Please note that any address in the TO field that ends with @gmass.co is actually set up as a command when used in tandem with the GMass button. So in this case, it will not send an email to [email protected] but perform an action to check if there’s a valid tracking domain in the URL found in the subject line.
You would need to use view.abccompany1.net since that’s where the CNAME entry you created from step #2.
Tracking domains (when it’s not the same domain as the email address you’re setting it to) usually takes 24-48 hours as we manually check and approve these. However, if you’re using G Suite and the tracking domain and your email address’ domain matches, these are automatically approved.
Though we can’t guarantee 100% that it would help get your emails into the Inbox since there are other factors involved and how strict your recipients’ email servers have set up thir email filters, it would eliminate any blocks and will definitely help with deliverability.
Hey,
I am an internet music producer from Canada that sells digital music files to upcoming artists.
I have setup an account for my online business with Gmail and Gmass, utilizing SendGrid- when I test my emails through sendgrid they always go to spam folders. With just plain Gmail they do not. How can I fix this so I can utilize the mass emailing capabilities? Or is there any other services you provide to help businesses with this? I just want to beable to effectively hit my possible clients inbox or promotional tab box but I aim to send 100-200 emails/day.
Thanks and appreciate any help!
Hi Mark,
If you’re sending just 100-200 emails per day, we highly suggest using Gmail servers instead of SMTP.
Okay, thx a lot. 😉
I have my NameCheap set up as follows:
Type: CNAME
Host: email
Value: x.gmtrack.net.
TTL: 60 minutes
And it is not working. Can you help with what I have done wrong?
Thanks
When I hover over my links it is an Compute.AmazonAWS associated URL, what does this mean? Has this problem been solved with you using AWS links?
Hi,
How do you set this up when your emails are controlled by your Gsuite? I contacted my hosting company about it and added the CNAME (email.greenlightnational.com) under the primary domain http://www.greenlightnational.com. When I ping that CNAME^ I receive this message: “Ping request could not find host email.greenlightnational.com. Please check the name and try again.”
Is there more to set up under the Gsuite Admin?
Hi Chris,
It may take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours for your DNS records to propagate globally so when adding new records (such as a CNAME), it may appear to not have done so but it may just be taking a while for the changes to propagate.
So I did this and tried a test email to two other Gmail accounts. Both went directly to Spam. What went wrong?
Hi Kai,
Upon checking, we’re not showing any emails sent from GMass under the email address you’ve used to post this comment. Kindly contact our support team so we can assist you directly (gmass.co/g/support).
i keep getting a link in my mails that i didnt send pls how do i remove it i noticed it when i sent my test mail out things like “mail merge gmass” ” where do you think the mail came from” etc
Hi Kevin,
We’re not showing any campaigns or commands from the email address you used to submit your comment. Could you contact our Support Team (gmass.co/g/support) so we can assist you directly?
my regular gmail account is 2 years old inboxes great. my gsuit is 5 days old and won’t inbox so far. whats better as I’d like to send thousands of emails per day.
Hi Joel,
We recommend using your Gmail account in the meantime to send at the maximum of 500 emails per day (depending on your account’s sending reputation). However, since the limit is smaller compared to your needs, we recommend using a third-party SMTP service such as Sendgrid to be able to overcome the sending limits imposed by Google.
do you click the gmass send button when scheduling for future or just save email as drAft?
If you’re saving as just a Gmail draft (without actually sending) you can just close the compose window. If you click the GMass button, it would schedule or create drafts for each recipient.
So will this only work if I have a G Suite account? I can’t just use a regular Gmail account?
Hi Rich,
No, you can set up a custom tracking domain for Gmail accounts as well through the same process. As long as you have a domain where the CNAME entry is added into its DNS records, you can set it to your account regardless if it’s a free Gmail or G Suite account.
It Is’nt clear at all exactly what one needs to enter into the DNS Records…
I have Host name and destination.. and don’t know what to put for each…
Quite frustrating…!
Hi Richard,
Your host can be any alphanumeric string. This will serve as the subdomain for your tracking domain. For example, if you put track as the host, it will create your tracking domain as track.yourdomain.com. The value should be set as x.gmtrack.net
I have 3 x paid gmass accounts and I have submitted a change of tracker domain for each account
I created and submitted a tracking domain based on a 4th domain I own
As the new tracking domain does not match the domain of our gmail account(s), the request came back marked as “for manual review”
How long does this process take ?
How can I ensure this request becomes approved/updated?
Thank you
Hi Daniel,
Results normally return within 24 hours.
Hi Ajay,
I have two domains linked to my gsuite account,,, one primary and one secondary. Can I set tracking domains for both?
I’m sent you an email for domain tracking but it failed again and again.. Why?
Hi Azeem,
Upon checking, this is because the address you had in your subject line did not match the CNAME entry you had in your DNS records. We’ve replied to your email with a screenshot for your reference.
Where do I create my own domain name and how do I associate it with my Gmass account?
Hi Sungnyin,
You can register a new domain with a domain registrar (GoDaddy, Enom, FastDomain, etc).
Your support is awful!!! Where is live chat??? I have to wait days now just to get the same question answered because your staff doesn’t feel like answering my questions and just sends me to links of articles I have already read and that DO NOT make sense. What the hell is host or view???? Just tell me the exact settings i need to add for my CNAME record on my own domain. And then tell me how to connect it to my gmass account. This is ridiculous that I have to keep asking the same questions!!
Hi Lisa,
For your CNAME record, you would need to add the values as follows:
Host or Hostname can be any alphanumeric string that would serve as the subdomain to your tracking domain. (i.e. if you use track as the host, then your tracking domain will be track.yourdomain.com)
The value or points to should be x.gmtrack.net with TTL set to max or auto.
This CNAME entry must be added to the DNS records where your domain’s nameservers are handled to function. Upon checking, your domain’s nameservers are handled through Cloudflare so the CNAME entry must be added there to function correctly.
I just signed up for gmass. I want to send about 500 emails once a month, I guess from my personal gmail account. Is that a bad idea?
I would like to do whatever this article is telling me to do in order, but I literally don’t understand it. Is there an easier tutorial?
By having my own dedicated tracking domain would this help with spam triggers?
Also I send an email to set this up but it comes up with an error message
General Exception We couldn’t find a CNAME entry for my domain name which is apparently pointing to x.gmtrack.net. How do I resolve this ?
Where do i type x.gmtrack.net in the host part of the record or the value section of the record?
I am using namecheap. If i type it in the host section what do i type in the value section?
The value should point to x.gmtrack.net. The Host would be the subdomain you wish to use so for example, if you chose VIEW as your Host, then your tracking domain would be VIEW.yourdomain.com
Hi ,
I have regitered a domain for my website at Goddady.
Lets say its http://www.company.com
I also have a Gsuite account and create and email address for that website using the same domain. I want to use that email address for Gmass campaigns
Lets say the email address is: [email protected]
What I don’t quite undertsand is, do I need to create a new domain for the tracking domain?
Or do I only change the CNAME Record of my already registered domain in Godaddy.
for example view.company.com
Please help.
Greetz
Marc
Hi Marc,
You would just need to create a CNAME for an already existing domain.
You need to write these instructions in a much better English, because if we must add the hardship of the learning curve to the hardship of trying to understand what you mean, it can’t work.
You should re-write point 4), because it looks like something literally translated into English from another language, idiomatic forms included.
Sir, all mail arrives to SPAM
I have configured everything they have asked for.
I can’t give you any more money, gentlemen.
I will not hire the $100 VIP service.
Be HONEST.
Offer SUPPORT be professional .
I paid the previous month for your services and to date I can NOT use your platform, however you already charged for the month.
Please offer me a solution and if you can not help, be honest not to hire your service, but do not lie or waste your time.
Hi Diego,
We have been responding to your tickets. However, we cannot go into detail as to how to resolve your emails going to spam as it would encompass analyzing your domain, your domain email’s sending reputation, among other things. As previously mentioned in one of our direct responses to you, you can use our Spam Solver tool to tweak your emails to see what settings work. You can read more about is here: https://www.gmass.co/blog/spam-solver-tweaks-emails/
I am a complete noob so bear with me. I am having trouble following along your example above.
Compose a new message in Gmail, put [email protected] in the To field, and put the tracking domain you created in the Subject. Then hit the main GMass button. Do not hit the Send button.
You put [email protected] in the to field
You put link.wordzen.com in the Subject
Yet you say below the example:
In this example, my G Suite email address is [email protected], and I’m setting track.wordzen.com as my tracking domain. I must hit the GMass button, not the Send button.
I am completely confused is your tracking domain link.wordzen.com or track.wordzen.com?
Thanks!
I don’t understand how to take these steps to prevent email blocking if you are just using a plain gmail account. The directions say “The default tracking domain used for regular Gmail accounts is “gmreg.net”, but if you manage your own domain, you can assign a branded tracking domain to an individual Gmail account similarly to how you can assign a branded tracking domain to an entire Google Apps domain.”
Does this mean I need to create my own domain in order to take these steps with my gmail account?
Hi Stepan,
The tracking domain is used in your campaign emails as part of any GMass tracked links or as part of the URL of the tracking pixel that allows you to track opens. If you do not have an already existing domain, then yes, you would need to register a new domain to create a custom tracking domain to be used in your GMass campaigns.
I had a hard time setting this up with Namecheap but finally figured out that in the DNS, you need to add a CNAME record with “link” in the Host section and “x.gmtrack.net.” in the Value section. TTL can be automatic.
Then in the Gmass dashboard, in the Settings section for Tracking, enter “link.yourdomain.com” and then verify it.
The instructions on this page don’t tell you what to enter in the Host section for namecheap and it was driving me nuts. I hope this helps someone.
Hi Mike,
Apologies on that. We do have a line stating “your chosen host” (https://www.gmass.co/blog/tracking-domain/#post-309:~:text=your%20chosen%20host,-aliasing) but should be clearer that you can choose any alphanumeric string to serve as your host for the newly added CNAME entry in your DNS records.
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I have already hosted my domain , so i cant host it again
What’s is the host name I can use for CNAME for tracking and using it while adding C NAME in my website control panel
Hi Aditya,
The Host Name is any alphanumeric string you would like that would serve as the subdomain for your tracking domain. For example, if you set the host to be LINK then your tracking domain would be LINK.yourdomain.com
Hello, I just submitted the Google doc. form so that someone can help set this up. Could you kindly let me know what the next steps are and when I can expect this to be done by? How do I make the $50 payment? Thank you!
I set up a CNAME for a subdomain of my domain. It pings correctly and all seems correct. However, that is not the domain of my free gmail account that I’m using Gmass with. I’m confused about the verification process. When I added that domain as my tracking domain, it gave me the message,
“We couldn’t validate that cu*******[email protected] has permission to assign gmass.cu*******em.com, so your request has been sent to the other users assigned to gmass.cu*******em.com.”
I have received nothing in my email, spam or otherwise. I don’t understand where this request has been sent. Did it go to my webhosting provider? There are no other users of this domain except me.
This is mind blowing, thanks for sharing this valuable content.
Hello Team.
I have a serious issue regarding this and seek your help. Guys, someone automatically or intentionally created a subdomain of my website. (tracking.mydomain.com) and thousands of backlinks have been pointing to this subdomain. The links are affecting our organic rankings in a very bad way. I don’t know how this subdomain is created which is showing a blank page on opening. And these links are also spammy. Please help me with some tips to delete this subdomain. It is not even showing in my godaddy account.
Hi Rajat,
Please submit a trouble ticket (gmass.co/g/support) – providing us with the email address you’re using with GMass and the actual custom tracking domain you’re using so that we can assist you directly.
Sorry I am a bit confused on the domain.
i have a new domain setup just for emails. So this domain is used specifcally for gmass.
I put in “link” for the host value and x.gmttrack.net.
I used CNAME Record is that ok?
It all works well. Will this impact MX records?
What is the “refers to” in the dns record space? @, www, or other host?