Step-by-Step BIMI Setup: Displaying Verified Brand Logos in Email Inboxes

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) allows domain owners to display their official verified logo next to incoming messages in inbox clients such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Apple Mail. In addition to visual brand recognition, BIMI rewards organizations that enforce strict DMARC protection with high-visibility trust indicators (like Gmail's verified checkmark).

1. Prerequisites for BIMI Implementation

Before creating a BIMI DNS record, your domain must meet three strict technical requirements:

1. Strict DMARC Policy Enforcement: Your root domain must publish a DMARC policy set to either p=quarantine (with pct=100) or p=reject. A DMARC policy of p=none will cause BIMI validation to fail immediately!
2. SPF and DKIM Alignment: Outbound emails must achieve 100% SPF and/or DKIM alignment.
3. Registered Trademark Logo: Your logo must be an officially registered trademark with a recognized intellectual property office (e.g. USPTO, EUIPO).

2. Preparing the BIMI SVG Tiny PS Logo File

Standard SVG images exported from design tools will NOT display in mailbox clients. BIMI requires a specialized profile called SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG Tiny PS).

Technical SVG Requirements:

• Format: version="1.2" and baseProfile="tiny-ps".
• Square Aspect Ratio: 1:1 ratio (e.g., 512px x 512px viewbox).
• No External References or Scripts: Must not contain <script>, external font links, or raster image embeds.
• Solid Vector Paths: Centered logo on a solid background color.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<svg version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny-ps" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512">
  <title>Official Brand Logo</title>
  <rect width="512" height="512" fill="#2563eb"/>
  <path d="M256 100 L380 380 L132 380 Z" fill="#ffffff"/>
</svg>

3. Obtaining a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC)

To display logos in Gmail, Google requires a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) issued by an authorized Certificate Authority (CA) such as DigiCert or Entrust. The CA validates your registered trademark documents and issues a .pem certificate file.

4. Publishing the BIMI DNS Record

Once your SVG Tiny PS logo and VMC certificate are hosted on secure HTTPS web servers, publish a TXT record at the subdomain default._bimi.yourdomain.com:

5. How to Validate Your BIMI Record

Verify your DNS configuration instantly with IncogSay's free BIMI Trust Inspector. Our tool validates your DMARC prerequisite status, fetches and parses your SVG logo header, verifies HTTPS accessibility, and previews how your logo will appear inside inbox clients.