What is BIMI? How to Get Your Logo in Gmail and Yahoo Inboxes

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email specification that allows organizations to display their brand logo next to authenticated emails in supporting inboxes. Instead of seeing a generic initial or silhouette, recipients see your actual brand logo — a visual trust signal that helps legitimate email stand out from phishing.

BIMI is supported by Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Apple Mail (iOS 16+/macOS Ventura+), Fastmail, and Zoho Mail. Microsoft has announced future support for Outlook.

To implement BIMI, your domain needs:

1. DMARC policy at p=quarantine or p=reject — p=none is not sufficient. Gmail requires p=reject.

2. Valid SPF and DKIM records aligned with DMARC.

3. An SVG Tiny PS logo — Your logo in SVG Tiny Portable/Secure format. Must be square, have a solid opaque background, no animations, no scripts, no external references, under 32KB.

4. Logo hosted at an HTTPS URL — Publicly accessible, no authentication required.

5. VMC certificate (for Gmail) — A Verified Mark Certificate proves you own the trademark for the logo. Required by Gmail; optional for Yahoo and Apple.

A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) is a digital certificate that verifies your ownership of a registered trademark logo. It's issued by certificate authorities authorized by the BIMI Group: currently DigiCert and Entrust.

VMC requirements: - Your logo must be a registered trademark (USPTO, EUIPO, or other recognized trademark office) - Cost: approximately $1,000-1,500 per year - Process takes 4-8 weeks including trademark verification

If Gmail is a critical channel, the VMC investment is worthwhile — Gmail sends billions of emails to branded inboxes where BIMI logos appear prominently.

Once you have your SVG logo hosted and your VMC (if using Gmail), add a DNS TXT record:

_bimi.yourdomain.com IN TXT "v=BIMI1; l=https://yourdomain.com/logo.svg; a=https://yourdomain.com/vmc.pem"

v=BIMI1: required version tag l=: URL of your SVG Tiny PS logo a=: URL of your VMC certificate (optional without VMC; required for Gmail logo display)

After adding the record, use a BIMI checker to verify the record is valid and the logo is accessible. Logo display in Gmail can take a few days to appear after verification.

1. 1

   Achieve DMARC p=reject

   BIMI requires DMARC enforcement. Gmail specifically requires p=reject (not just p=quarantine). Follow the gradual DMARC enforcement process: p=none → p=quarantine → p=reject.

2. 2

   Convert logo to SVG Tiny PS format

   Your logo must be in SVG Tiny Portable/Secure format. Square aspect ratio, solid opaque background, no animations, no scripts, no external references, under 32KB. Use a design tool or converter that supports SVG Tiny PS.

3. 3

   Host the SVG logo at a public HTTPS URL

   Upload your SVG to a publicly accessible HTTPS URL. No redirects, no authentication required. Example: https://yourdomain.com/bimi/logo.svg

4. 4

   Obtain a VMC certificate (required for Gmail)

   Apply for a Verified Mark Certificate from DigiCert or Entrust. Requires a registered trademark. Cost: ~$1,000–$1,500/year. Process takes 4–8 weeks.

5. 5

   Publish the BIMI DNS record

   Add TXT record at _bimi.yourdomain.com with v=BIMI1; l=[logo URL]; a=[VMC URL]. For Yahoo/Apple without VMC, omit the a= tag.

6. 6

   Verify and wait for propagation

   Use a BIMI checker tool to validate your record. Gmail logo display can take several days to appear after verification. Yahoo is typically faster.

• ·DMARC policy at p=reject (required for Gmail BIMI logo display)
• ·Valid SPF and DKIM configured with DMARC alignment passing
• ·Logo converted to SVG Tiny PS format (square, opaque background, no scripts/animations, < 32KB)
• ·SVG logo hosted at a publicly accessible HTTPS URL with no redirects
• ·Trademark registered with USPTO, EUIPO, or other recognized trademark office (required for VMC)
• ·VMC certificate obtained from DigiCert or Entrust (required for Gmail logo display)
• ·BIMI DNS TXT record published at _bimi.yourdomain.com
• ·Record validated with BIMI checker tool before expecting logo display