What is BIMI? Brand logos next to email
A standard that shows a sender's verified logo next to its email, built on top of DMARC.
What BIMI is
BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) lets a company show its logo next to its messages in your inbox, in the spot where you would otherwise see initials or a blank circle. It is developed by the AuthIndicators Working Group (also called the BIMI Group) and is still an Internet-Draft, not a finished RFC, but Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo and others already support it.
The point is not decoration. A logo appears only when the message passes DMARC, so it signals that the mail really came from that domain.
For senders, the main appeal is recognition. A familiar logo in a crowded inbox makes it easier to pick out real mail from a bank or shop, and harder for a spoofed copy to look the same.
What a domain needs
First, a DMARC policy that enforces: p=quarantine or p=reject. A p=none policy does not qualify, because it lets failing mail through.
Second, the logo itself, as an SVG file in a restricted format called SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG Tiny PS). It must be square and hosted over HTTPS.
Third, for most large mailbox providers, a certificate that proves the domain owner has the right to use the logo. A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) requires a registered trademark. A Common Mark Certificate (CMC) is an alternative for logos that aren't trademarked but have a record of public use. Both are issued by certificate authorities such as DigiCert, and they cost money every year.
The BIMI record
The domain publishes a TXT record at default._bimi followed by the domain. l= points to the logo and a= points to the certificate:
default._bimi.example.com. TXT "v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/brand/logo.svg; a=https://example.com/brand/vmc.pem"How it shows up, and what it does not prove
When a message arrives, the receiving provider checks DMARC, looks up the BIMI record for the From domain, validates the certificate, and then shows the logo. Gmail also adds a blue checkmark for senders with a VMC. Requirements vary by provider: Gmail requires a certificate, and other providers set their own rules, so check each one's documentation.
A logo means the message came from that domain. It does not mean the domain is a company you know, so a lookalike domain could in principle get its own certificate for its own mark. Treat a BIMI logo as one good sign, not a guarantee.
Questions
- Does BIMI help with deliverability?
- Not directly. Providers do not promise better inbox placement for BIMI. The requirement for an enforced DMARC policy does make spoofing harder, which helps a domain's reputation over time.
- Why do I see a logo in one app but not another?
- Each mail app and provider decides whether to support BIMI, and each has its own rules about certificates. Many desktop mail apps do not show BIMI logos at all.