How to get Google's verified checkmark

You may have noticed emails in Gmail that show a brand logo and a small blue checkmark next to the sender's name, like this:

That checkmark tells recipients the sender has proven ownership of both its domain and its trademarked logo. If you are wondering what it is, how to get it, and whether it helps your email deliverability, this guide covers the current requirements and costs for 2026.

What is Google's verified checkmark?

Google added verified checkmarks to Gmail in May 2023. The checkmark appears next to the sender name for brands that use Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) with a Verified Mark Certificate. It helps recipients tell genuine senders apart from impersonators.

BIMI itself lets a brand display its logo as the sender avatar. Since late 2024, Gmail has offered two certificate paths, and only one of them earns the checkmark. According to Google's BIMI setup guide, Gmail requires either a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or a Common Mark Certificate (CMC), and shows the checkmark only for senders verified with a VMC.

Costs reflect published 2026 list prices and reseller pricing reported by Suped and DMARCTrust. Pricing varies by issuer, term length, and number of domains.

What you need to get the checkmark

Getting the checkmark is a multi-step project that touches your DNS, your legal team, and your brand assets. Here is the full list of requirements:

What you will pay for the checkmark

The certificate is the largest recurring cost. DigiCert lists its VMC at about $1,752 per year, and Sectigo, which acquired Entrust's certificate business in 2025, advertises VMCs from about $1,350 per year with a multi-year term. Resellers and multi-year deals can bring the price under $1,000. The BIMI Group's authorized issuer list names DigiCert, GlobalSign, and SSL.com, and Google's setup guide links to the current list of mark certificate issuers.

Don't forget the other costs. If your logo is not already a registered trademark, registration can take months and adds legal and filing fees. You may also need design help to produce a compliant SVG file and IT time to move DMARC to enforcement safely.

The impact on email deliverability

BIMI and the checkmark have minimal direct impact on inbox placement. They are display features. What they do require, DMARC at enforcement, is the part that actually protects your domain and supports deliverability.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are no longer optional for high-volume senders. Under Google's email sender guidelines, anyone sending close to 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts must use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and Gmail moved to rejecting non-compliant bulk mail in November 2025. Our overview of the Gmail and Yahoo inbox protection rules explains what bulk senders need to do.

BIMI vendors often promote higher open rates as a benefit. Treat that claim with caution: privacy features in Apple Mail and other clients inflate open tracking, so clicks and conversions are a more reliable way to judge whether a logo changes how subscribers engage.

Email security features at a glance

Strong authentication helps mailbox providers and recipients tell your email apart from impersonators, so you get the deliverability your own sending earns rather than the reputation of a spoofer.

For example, BIMI makes it harder for a scammer to trick recipients with a lookalike domain (chasebank.com vs. chase-banking.us), because only the real brand can display the verified logo and checkmark.

Is Google's verified checkmark worth it?

For most small and mid-sized businesses, no. We don't recommend it as a priority for DailyStory customers, because the cost and effort are high and the deliverability benefit is minimal.

It can make sense for brands that already own a registered trademark, already enforce DMARC, and are frequent targets of phishing, such as banks, retailers, and healthcare organizations. If your logo is not trademarked but you still want it in Gmail, a CMC is a less expensive path, though it will not include the checkmark.

Whatever you decide, start with the fundamentals: our 9 tips for better inbox placement and our guide on preparing for the future of email marketing. When you are ready for BIMI, follow Google's step-by-step BIMI setup guide.

Frequently asked questions

Looking for verification on social platforms instead? See our guide to getting verified on Facebook. To see how DailyStory helps you send authenticated, well-delivered email, explore our email marketing features or schedule a demo.