BIMI, or Brand Indicators for Message Identification, allows businesses to display their official brand logo next to emails in supported inboxes such as Gmail.

The logo is verified by a third party, helping recipients identify that the message is genuinely associated with the brand. Gmail can also display a checkmark for senders verified with a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC).

What Do You Need for BIMI?

Before setting up BIMI, your business needs:

1. A VMC or CMC certificate
2. DMARC configured for your email domain
3. SPF or DKIM authentication
4. A secure HTTPS web server
5. Your company logo in the required SVG format

Google states that BIMI requires DMARC authentication and recommends using a VMC whenever possible.

Step 1: Prepare Your Brand Logo

Your logo must be created in SVG format.

For Gmail, Google recommends:

1. Minimum logo size of 96 × 96 pixels
2. Logo centered inside a square
3. Solid background
4. SVG file size of 32 KB or less
5. No scripts or animations

The logo should be simple, clear and suitable for displaying at a small size inside an business email inbox.

Step 2: Get a VMC or CMC Certificate

You need a certificate from an approved Certificate Authority.

VMC – Verified Mark Certificate

A VMC provides stronger brand verification. To qualify for a VMC, your logo normally needs to be registered as a trademark with a recognized intellectual property office.

CMC – Common Mark Certificate

If your logo is not trademarked, you may be able to use a CMC depending on the requirements of the certificate issuer.

For businesses specifically looking for the Gmail verification checkmark, VMC is important because Gmail states that the checkmark is shown for senders verified with a VMC.

Step 3: Configure DMARC

BIMI will not work without proper email authentication.

Your domain must have DMARC enabled, and SPF or DKIM should already be configured.

For BIMI, Google requires the DMARC policy to use:

p=quarantine

or

p=reject

The DMARC percentage must also be set to:

pct=100

A DMARC policy using p=none does not support BIMI.

Step 4: Upload the Certificate File

Once your VMC or CMC is issued, you will receive a certificate file in PEM format.

Upload the PEM file to your public HTTPS web server and keep the file URL ready.

Example:

https://yourdomain.com/brand/certificate.pem

This URL will later be included in your BIMI DNS record.

Step 5: Add the BIMI DNS Record

The final step is to add a BIMI TXT record to your domain's DNS settings.

A typical BIMI record using a certificate may look like:

v=BIMI1;l=;a=https://yourdomain.com/brand/certificate.pem

After adding the record, Google says it can take up to 48 hours for the logo to start appearing in recipients' inboxes.

Why Should Businesses Use BIMI?

BIMI can help businesses:

1. Display their brand logo in supported email inboxes
2. Improve brand recognition
3. Strengthen email authentication
4. Help recipients identify legitimate business emails
5. Reduce the risk of brand impersonation
6. Build greater confidence in business communication

For companies sending quotations, invoices, customer notifications, marketing emails or support messages, verified email branding can make business communication look more professional and trustworthy.

BIMI, DMARC and Gmail Verification

BIMI is not simply about adding a logo to email.

It combines domain authentication, brand verification and email security.

To successfully implement BIMI, businesses need to correctly configure their email authentication, prepare the required logo format, obtain the appropriate certificate and add the correct DNS records.

Once properly configured, your brand can become more recognizable in Gmail and other supported email services.