HostGator (cPanel) DNS for Business Email: Zone Editor and Email Routing

HostGator shared hosting runs cPanel, and cPanel has a setting that no other DNS editor has: Email Routing. It tells the server whether mail for the domain is handled locally or elsewhere, and it is separate from the MX records (the settings that tell the internet where to deliver email for your domain). Change the MX without changing Email Routing and your website's contact form, and anyone on the same server, keeps delivering into the old local mailboxes. This guide adds the four records in the Zone Editor and sets Email Routing correctly. The steps apply to any cPanel host.

Quick answer

cPanel, Domains, Zone Editor, Manage next to the domain. Delete the existing MX (it points at the domain itself) and add one with priority 10 and destination mail.oqumail.com. Add TXT records for SPF (replace the cPanel default), DKIM and DMARC. Then cPanel, Email, Email Routing, select the domain, choose Remote Mail Exchanger, Change. Click Verify in OquMail.

The four records

• MX: host blank or @, value mail.oqumail.com, priority 10
• SPF: TXT at the root, value v=spf1 MX (Mail Exchanger — where incoming email is delivered) a:mail.oqumail.com ~all
• DKIM: TXT at the selector name shown in your OquMail dashboard, ending in ._domainkey, with the key value from the dashboard
• DMARC: TXT at _dmarc, value v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com (use your own address)

Step by step

1. Log in to the HostGator customer portal and open cPanel for the hosting account. If HostGator is not the domain's nameserver (the Zone Editor says the zone is not managed here), add the records at the registrar instead and skip to the Email Routing step.
2. Under Domains, open Zone Editor and click Manage next to the domain.
3. Filter by MX. The default record has priority 0 and points at the domain itself (yourdomain.com or mail.yourdomain.com). Delete it.
4. Add Record, Type MX, Name yourdomain.com. (cPanel adds the trailing dot), Priority 10, Destination mail.oqumail.com. Save.
5. Filter by TXT. cPanel creates a default SPF such as v=spf1 +a +MX (Mail Exchanger — where incoming email is delivered) +ip4:... ~all. Edit it and replace the value with v=spf1 mx a:mail.oqumail.com ~all. Do not keep two v=spf1 records.
6. Add Record, Type TXT, Name the DKIM selector followed by ._domainkey and the domain (cPanel wants the full name here, for example selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com.), Record the key value. cPanel may also show its own default._domainkey record; leave it, it does no harm.
7. Add Record, Type TXT, Name _dmarc.yourdomain.com., Record v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com, using an address you read.
8. Go back to cPanel home, under Email open Email Routing. Select the domain, choose Remote Mail Exchanger, and click Change.
9. Under Email Accounts, export anything you need from the old cPanel mailboxes, then delete them so nothing keeps accepting mail locally.
10. Back in the OquMail dashboard, click Verify.

cPanel quirks

• Email Routing is the step everyone misses. With it on Local or Automatic, the server ignores your MX for mail generated on the server, including contact forms and WordPress notifications, and delivers to the deleted or empty local mailboxes.
• The Zone Editor wants fully qualified names ending in a dot for new records. For the root, the Name is yourdomain.com. with the dot.
• cPanel's default SPF lists the server's IP so that website mail passes. Once you send website mail through SMTP on your mailbox, that is no longer needed; replace the record rather than merging.
• The Email deliverability (whether your email lands in the inbox instead of spam) tool in cPanel will warn that DKIM and SPF are "not valid" because they no longer match cPanel's own expectations. Ignore it; the OquMail Verify and the public checkers are the authority.
• Changes in the Zone Editor take effect within minutes on HostGator nameservers.

Website mail after the switch

Contact forms and WordPress on HostGator call the local mailer by default, which sends from the server's IP and no longer passes SPF once the record points at OquMail. Install an SMTP plugin and send through a mailbox on the domain: host mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS, the mailbox login. The WordPress SMTP guide has the settings.

Confirm it works

Click Verify in the OquMail dashboard; the live check names any record still missing or mistyped. Then run the domain through the free MX lookup, SPF checker and DMARC checker, and send a message from webmail to a Gmail address, checking Show original for spf=pass and DKIM (a digital signature that proves your email was not tampered with)=pass. Changes usually take effect within minutes, occasionally up to 48 hours.

Common questions

I changed the MX and mail from my own website still goes to the old mailbox.

Email Routing is still Local. Set it to Remote Mail Exchanger; the old host guide explains why.

Can I keep some cPanel mailboxes?

Not for the same domain; a domain routes to one provider. Export them and recreate the addresses in OquMail, or use a subdomain for the second provider.

Does this apply to Bluehost, A2 or SiteGround?

Bluehost and A2 use cPanel and the steps match; SiteGround uses its own Site Tools with a similar DNS Zone Editor but no Email Routing step. Our Bluehost guide covers that host's differences.

Want to see how your own domain is set up? Use the free SPF checker, DMARC checker and MX lookup: they run in your browser and store nothing.