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How to prove you own your domain with a DNS TXT record

6 November 2026 · 3 min read

Lots of services ask you to "verify your domain": Google Search Console, email providers, and URL Cards. It sounds technical, but it's one small setting at the company that runs your domain's DNS. Here's what it means and how to do it.

What a TXT record is

DNS is the internet's address book. It turns a name like example.com into the address of the computer that serves it. Alongside those addresses, a domain can hold small notes called TXT records: plain text that anyone can look up, but only the domain's owner can set.

That's what makes them useful for proof. If a service gives you a random code and you can make it appear in your domain's DNS, you must control the domain.

Where to add it

Your TXT records live wherever your domain's DNS is managed. That's usually one of:

  • the company you bought the domain from (a registrar)
  • your website host, if you pointed the domain at them
  • a DNS service like Cloudflare

If you're not sure, log in to wherever you pay for the domain and look for DNS, DNS records or Manage DNS.

Adding the record

Every provider's screen looks a little different, but they all ask for the same three things:

  1. Type: choose TXT.
  2. Name (sometimes "Host"): the part before your domain. For URL Cards that's something like _urlcards-verify. Some providers want just that part; others want the whole thing, _urlcards-verify.example.com. If it shows your domain already, enter only the first part.
  3. Value (sometimes "Content" or "Text"): paste the code exactly as given, for example urlcards-verify=Kp3vQ8....

Save it. Leave any other settings (like TTL) at their defaults.

How long it takes

Usually a few minutes. Occasionally up to a day, if your provider is slow or the domain's settings were changed recently. URL Cards looks up the record through public DNS each time you press Check now, so you can try again whenever you like.

Common mistakes

  • The domain written twice, as in _urlcards-verify.example.com.example.com, because the provider added it for you.
  • A missing character at the start or end of the value. Copy it with the copy button rather than by hand.
  • Quotes. Some providers add them automatically; if yours shows the value wrapped in quotes, that's fine.
  • The wrong place. If your domain's nameservers point to Cloudflare (or another service), records added at your registrar won't count.

Claiming your card on URL Cards

  1. Sign in or create an account, then go to Your cards.
  2. Claim the card by its address, or press Claim this card on the card's page.
  3. Add the TXT record you're given, then press Check now.

Once it's found, the card is yours: it gets a blue verified tick, and you can change its image, name and bio, and set a message box beside your site in the preview. Your account and email are never shown on the card. The card is the only public identity.

Keep the record in place: it's checked again every 30 days when you make a change.

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