How do you set up MX records for your domain correctly?

What are a domain's MX records and what are they for?

For your e-mail delivery to work properly, the MX records for your domain must be set up correctly. An MX record is something like a postcode in traditional mail. If you don't put the right postcode on a letter, it takes the post office longer to deliver it, or the letter isn't delivered at all.

The MX record for your domain tells the sender where your mailbox is and which server the message should be delivered to. Messages are then delivered without delays or errors.

How to set up MX records correctly

You make this setting with your domain host, not in the Google Admin console. You will need access to the domain settings and to editing DNS records. For the domain, you need to add

these MX records.

Name/Host/Alias

Time to Live (TTL*)

Record Type

Priority

Value/Answer/Destination

@ or leave blank

3600

MX

1

ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

@ or leave blank

3600

MX

5

ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

@ or leave blank

3600

MX

5

ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

@ or leave blank

3600

MX

10

ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

@ or leave blank

3600

MX

10

ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

Once you have entered the MX records, don't forget to delete the original MX records. It takes some time for the MX records to propagate before mail starts being delivered to Google's servers – 24 hours at most.