---
title: "BIMI"
description: "BIMI displays a verified brand logo next to your emails in Gmail or Yahoo. Learn the requirements: DMARC enforcement, an SVG logo and a VMC certificate."
url: "https://nodea.io/en/glossary/bimi"
lang: "en"
updated: "2026-07-13"
---

# BIMI

> BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email standard that displays a verified brand logo next to messages in supporting inboxes — a reward for full domain authentication with SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

**BIMI** (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email standard that lets mailbox providers display a verified brand logo next to messages from a given domain. It is supported by Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Apple Mail and others. The logo cannot simply be bought and switched on — it is a reward for correctly authenticating your outbound email, which is why BIMI is considered the final step of an email security rollout.

## How BIMI works

The prerequisite is working authentication: [SPF](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/spf) and [DKIM](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/dkim) records plus a [DMARC](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/dmarc) policy set to an enforcement mode — quarantine or reject; a policy of none is not enough. The domain owner then publishes a DNS TXT record at default.\_bimi.yourdomain pointing to the logo file in SVG Tiny PS format, a restricted and safe SVG profile. Some providers, notably Gmail, additionally require a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or Common Mark Certificate (CMC), issued by a certificate authority after validating rights to the mark. When an incoming message passes DMARC evaluation, the receiving server fetches the logo referenced in the BIMI record and renders it beside the sender's name.

## Practical applications

BIMI is most valuable for brands sending email at scale: online stores, banks, SaaS products and newsletter publishers. A recognizable logo in the inbox builds trust, can lift open rates and raises the bar for phishing — a spoofed message that fails DMARC never gets the logo. A typical rollout proceeds step by step: configure SPF and DKIM, move DMARC from monitoring to enforcement, prepare the SVG Tiny PS logo, publish the BIMI record and, if targeting Gmail, obtain a VMC. All of it requires nothing more than access to the domain's DNS zone, so it can be done with any registrar or hosting provider.

### Does BIMI require a VMC certificate?

It depends on the mailbox provider. Gmail and Apple Mail only display logos backed by a valid VMC or CMC certificate proving trademark rights, while Yahoo may show a logo without one if the domain enforces a strict DMARC policy and has a solid sending reputation.

## Related

- [DMARC](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/dmarc)
- [DKIM](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/dkim)
- [SPF](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/spf)
- [TXT Record](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/txt-record)
- [Deliverability](https://nodea.io/en/glossary/email-deliverability)

---

Languages: [pl](https://nodea.pl/pl/slownik-pojec/bimi.md)  
Site index: [llms.txt](https://nodea.io/en/llms.txt)