How do I troubleshoot SPF validation errors in Pardot?

Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that a common mistake is having incorrect syntax in the SPF record. Make sure the record starts with 'v=spf1', uses correct mechanisms (e.g., 'include', 'a', 'mx', 'ip4'), and ends with a 'qualifier' such as '-all' to define the default behavior.

Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains the first step to solve a SPF PermError (which causes validation errors) is to look at the SPF record. There is a 10 DNS lookup limit, including includes, redirects, a, mx etc. If the SPF record exceeds the 10 DNS lookup limit an SPF PermError is returned.

Email marketer from Reddit recommends checking if the SPF record includes Pardot's sending domains (e.g., include:_spf.salesforce.com). If not, add it to your SPF record to authorize Pardot to send emails on behalf of your domain.

Email marketer from MXToolbox shares that their tool can be used to lookup and validate your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records

Email marketer from AuthSMTP shares that if you send email from multiple locations, you need to have the authorized locations, such as IP addresses or domains, listed in your SPF record. Make sure to include all sending sources to prevent validation failures.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that if you have multiple SPF records, it can cause deliverability problems. You should have only one SPF record per domain. Also, keep your SPF record short to avoid exceeding DNS lookup limits.

Email marketer from EmailGeeks Forum shares that using online SPF record testing tools can help diagnose issues with your SPF record. These tools can validate the syntax and ensure the record is correctly configured.

Email marketer from SuperOffice explains that using DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) policies can help to ensure that emails are correctly authenticated using SPF and DKIM. Setting up DMARC allows you to monitor and manage SPF validation issues more effectively.

Expert from Spam Resource shares that one cause of SPF validation errors is incorrect DNS propagation. If you've recently updated your SPF record, allow sufficient time (up to 48 hours) for the changes to propagate across the internet. During this time, you might encounter inconsistent results.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that they offer a tool called SPF Inspector to check and validate your SPF records. The SPF Inspector identifies common errors such as syntax issues, exceeding the DNS lookup limit, and incorrect usage of mechanisms.

Expert from Word to the Wise shares that if you use third-party senders (like Pardot) to send emails, ensure you've properly authorized them in your SPF record using the 'include' mechanism. Failure to include these senders can lead to SPF validation errors.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that Pardot inherits suppression/bounce processing rules from Marketing Cloud that are probably causing pain. If the seeds bounce enough times, Marketing Cloud or Pardot will suppress them and stop future sends. This does not cause an SPF warning though.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that the SPF warning is odd and that Salesforce may have rolled out new IP addresses to the shared Pardot infrastructure but missed a step in setup.

Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that an SPF record should include mechanisms such as 'a', 'mx', 'ip4', 'ip6', and 'include' to specify authorized sending sources. Ensure these mechanisms are correctly defined and point to the appropriate servers/IP addresses used by Pardot.

Documentation from Salesforce Help explains that to ensure proper SPF configuration in Pardot, you need to include Salesforce's sending IPs in your domain's SPF record. This involves updating the SPF record at your DNS provider with the necessary 'include' statement for Salesforce.

Documentation from RFC shares that the all mechanism is used to indicate the end of the SPF record and the default action to take if none of the preceding mechanisms match. Typical qualifiers are '-all' (fail), '~all' (softfail), and '+all' (pass, but not recommended).

Documentation from Microsoft shares that the include mechanism in an SPF record references other domains' SPF records. Be cautious when using multiple include statements, as this can lead to exceeding the DNS lookup limit of 10.

Documentation from dmarcian explains that a common cause of SPF validation errors is exceeding the DNS lookup limit. SPF records are limited to 10 DNS lookups and exceeding this limit will cause an SPF 'PermError'. Tools such as dmarcian's SPF Surveyor can help to debug this.