Domain Verification Failure - Possible Reasons
Posted by Nishi on 24 June 2025
After completing the steps (adding CNAME/ TXT/ HTML) of Domain Verification, if you still get an error on verification, check the following:
If you have chosen the CNAME method, in the browser URL text area, type <zb******>.<yourdomain name.com> . If you have correctly added the Domain name, the page will be redirected to Zoho login page. In case it does not load the login page, then you need to check your CNAME values again.
DNS Provider - Registrar conflict
When you register the domain with one provider, but point the Nameservers to another provider, then the CNAME/ TXT/ MX/ SPF records added in your Domain Registrar is not considered valid. You might have changed the DNS Provider for hosting your website or for your previous email provider configuration or based on your choice.
The CNAME/ TXT records added in the provider where the Nameservers are pointed will only be effective and valid. Hence, do a 'NameServer' Lookup for your domain, to check where your domain is hosted. You may also check with your Domain Registrar or the technical contact for your domain on where the name servers are pointed to if you are not sure.
Longer TTL
TTL (Time To Live) is the time specified in your DNS for each change in your DNS to be effective. If you have a huge TTL value (24 hrs/ 48 hrs), then the CNAME/ TXT/ MX Records might not be provided during the verification process. It might take up to 12 - 24 hours for DNS changes to take effect, based on the TTL set. Please check the TTL value and try verifying after a while.
Incorrect Values
The way the CNAME/ MX needs to be added often varies with different DNS Providers. Some DNS Providers expect the domain name also to be added in the hostname (zb*****.<yourdomain.com>), whereas some domain providers ask you to fill just the hostname part (zb*****) and append the hostname from their end. Hence it is recommended to check the help pages or instruction manuals or reach out to the support team of your DNS provider, to add the respective CNAME/ MX records.
Typos/ Spelling Mistakes
Check if you have added the correct domain name (without any typing errors) in Zoho. In case you have deleted the domain and re-added it, a new zbcode will be generated for the domain. In this case, the old zbcode will be invalid, and your domain will not be verified. You need to add a new CNAME with zb code for verification.
After adding the CNAME or TXT record value, DO NOT add a dot or space at the end of the value. This will affect the values from getting propagated properly.
Domain Re-verification
You need to re-verify the ownership of your domain in the following cases:
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When your domain got expired and has been renewed recently.
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When you have changed your domain registrar.
In these cases, you will not be able to send and/or receive emails using your domain until you re-verify your domain. To verify your domain,
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Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and navigate to the Domains section.
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Click on the ‘Yet to reverify ownership’ link next to the respective domain.
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Verify your domain by using any one of the following methods,
Once the domain has been verified, you will be able to send and receive emails provided the MX records are configured for your domain.
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Email hosting setup
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Troubleshooting Domain Verification
When you register the domain with one provider, but point the Nameservers to another provider, then the CNAME/ TXT/ MX/ SPF records added in your Domain Registrar is not considered valid.
Zoho Mail plugin for cPanel
cPanel provides a control panel for domain owners to manage the different aspects of web hosting. Zoho Mail Plugin for cPanel helps you sign up for email hosting with Zoho Mail from within cPanel. This plugin is available under the Email section.
Zoho Mail for Plesk
Plesk is a web hosting platform with a control panel that allows domain owners to manage the different aspects of web hosting. Zoho Mail Plugin for Plesk helps you sign up for email hosting with Zoho Mail from within Plesk.
Searching Admin Console
Zoho Mail Admin Console provides a centralized interface from where you can manage critical aspects of an organization - the different domains, users, groups, organizational spam control, email policies, to name a few. However, this wealth of information might make navigating through the Admin Console slightly challenging.
Dashboard
The Admin Console Dashboard is the first thing you will see as soon as you login to the Zoho Mail Admin Console. It is a culmination of important data your admin might need at their disposal. You can enable or disable widgets in your dashboard including data on your organization's Email Traffic Stats.
Users
The user details section, provides the list of users already added to the organization. When you click on each user, you can have a detailed view about the particular user. The Admin can also perform a set of actions on the user. The primary email address of the users are listed in the section.
Roles and Privileges
The roles available in Zoho Mail are Super Administrator, Administrator, and User roles. The members of the organizations can assume different roles in Zoho Mail, based on the requirement. The Super Administrator can provide Administrator privileges to other users.
Groups
Groups or Distribution Lists are common email addresses, shared by a set of users for a specific purpose. When an email is sent to the group account, a copy of the email gets delivered to the mailbox of all the members of the Group.
Organization Settings
The administrator can control organization-wide parameters under the Organization section. Settings for the entire organization such as the org name, logo, templates for the welcome email and signature, format for the display name and email address.
Domain Options
Zoho Mail allows organizations to add domains to their organization accounts or even buy domains through Zoho. Your organization members will further be able to send and receive emails using their custom domain-based email addresses in Zoho.
Autodiscovery Settings
The Autodiscovery service ensures that email accounts can easily be configured using the IMAP protocol or on mobile devices using ActiveSync. The procedure varies depending on whether you want to configure it for IMAP or ActiveSync.
Email Policies/ Rules
Email Policies help the administrators control the organization's email sending and receiving parameters. In Zoho Mail, you can define multiple email policies and apply them to various sets of users and groups.
Advanced Delivery Options
With Zoho Mail, you can redirect or send a copy of an email automatically by configuring Email Routing. Email Routing is helpful in many situations like if you want to automatically send a copy of one user's email to another.
Security and Compliance Dashboard
The security and compliance dashboard in the Zoho Mail Admin console provides an overview of all the recommended security configurations. It displays the overall compliance score.
Organization Security
Organization accounts hold a lot of sensitive data and there's a need for certain security rules to make sure your data stays safe and is not compromised. The administrator can protect their user and organization data with the help of email security features.
Organization Spam Control
Zoho Mail is a secure email service with a spam control system that provides multiple options to customize the settings such that they suit your organization's needs.
Zoho Mail Outlook Add-in
Zoho Mail users can now experience enhanced email security and have better control over their preferences with the new Outlook Add-in while using their email client.
Export User Accounts
The Zoho Mail Admin Console provide options to export or backup users' emails, recover any deleted emails and also retry sending of emails that have failed delivery.
Migration to Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail offers a very simple solution to migrate data from your previous email provider to the respective user accounts in Zoho Mail directly. These user accounts need to be created in Zoho Mail before adding the migration.
Zoho Exchange Migration Wizard
Zoho user and email migration wizard can be used to discover users and migrate their emails from the Active Directory/ Exchange environment to their accounts in their Zoho Mail organization accounts.
Application Settings
The administrator can control the settings for other Zoho apps and third-party applications and integrations from the Other App Settings section in the Zoho Mail Admin Console.
Email Retention and eDiscovery
Email retention is the process of retaining emails in an organization for a specific period in an organized manner based on the policies of the organization.
Email Backup and Recovery
Email backup processes and stores emails in a safe, centralized location that can be retrieved at any point in time. It helps prevent data loss by enabling users to restore email content that has been accidentally deleted or lost.
Reports & Statistics
Zoho Mail has a separate Admin Reports section which comprises of statistics on various aspects of your organization's emailing experience. As an administrator, these reports will help you gain information on all aspects of your organization.
Zoho Toolkit
Zoho Mail provides easy-to-use diagnostic tools to troubleshoot some services. There are options to check the domain and registry details. You can run some basic DNS configuration checks for a specific domain, and analyze message headers.
Subscription
Zoho Mail offers different plans to accommodate different users. One can choose the subscription that would suit their organization from the array of available plans. You can also opt for the mix and match plan to have a tailor-made subscription.
Firewall settings
Configure your firewall settings and allow your organization members to access Zoho Mail without any restrictions. All of the below-mentioned domains have to be whitelisted even if you don't see activity at those addresses.