How to Fix Multiple SPF Records on a Cold Email Domain
Two SPF records on one domain means SPF fails completely — permerror, not even softfail. Here's how to find, merge, and fix them.
You check your DNS and discover you have two or more SPF TXT records. You might have noticed this during a deliverability audit or a tool flagged it. Your SPF might be showing as permerror, which means receiving servers can't evaluate it at all.
Why This Happens
The SPF specification (RFC 7208) requires exactly one SPF record per domain. If more than one exists, receiving servers should return a permerror result — treated worse than a soft fail because it indicates a configuration error rather than an unauthorized sender.
Multiple SPF records commonly occur when:
- You switched email providers and added the new provider's SPF include without removing the old one
- You set up a new outreach tool that required its own SPF include and your DNS provider added it as a new record instead of modifying the existing one
- A team member or developer added a record without checking for existing ones
- Your domain has been migrated between registrars or DNS providers and records were duplicated
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Use the SPF checker to look up TXT records on your domain. Count how many records start with "v=spf1". You should have exactly one. If you see two or more, that's the problem.
Review the content of each SPF record. Identify which email services each one references (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, your outreach tool, etc.).
The Fix Path
Combine all SPF includes into a single record. Take the includes from all your separate records and merge them into one TXT record.
For example, if you had:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
andv=spf1 include:spf.outreachtool.com ~all
Merge them into:v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.outreachtool.com ~all
Delete all other SPF TXT records. You must have exactly one.
After merging, count your DNS lookups. Each "include" adds lookups. You can't exceed 10 total. If you're over 10, remove unnecessary includes or flatten your SPF record. Verify the final result with the SPF checker.
Wait for DNS propagation (up to 48 hours) then test by sending to Gmail and checking headers for SPF: PASS. Run a placement test to confirm end-to-end.
When to Replace Instead of Repair
This is always repairable. Multiple SPF records are a DNS configuration error. Fix the records and the problem goes away immediately (after propagation).
Mistakes That Make This Worse
- Adding a new SPF record for each new sending service without checking for existing records
- Having your outreach tool "auto-configure" SPF without you verifying what was added to DNS
- Not checking the total number of DNS lookups after merging records
- Deleting the wrong SPF record
Run the checks first
Before replacing anything, run a free inbox placement test. You might find the issue is DNS, not the domain — and save yourself a week of unnecessary work.