--- title: "Proving a store is yours with a DNS record" source: "https://ottom.io/docs/verify-store" summary: "A store’s owner proves the store is theirs by publishing a TXT record we issue at the store’s domain and asking us to check it. A proved store can change how our agent treats it, such as what it does with a cookie banner. This page gives the steps, how long a record lasts and what to do when a check does not find it." --- # Proving a store is yours with a DNS record A store’s owner proves the store is theirs by publishing a TXT record we issue at the store’s domain and asking us to check it. A proved store can change how our agent treats it, such as what it does with a cookie banner. This page gives the steps, how long a record lasts and what to do when a check does not find it. ## The steps 1. **Get the record.** Open the store in your dashboard and press "Get the record" under How we measure this store. You see a host, the type TXT and a value that starts ottom-verification=. If we emailed you a record, that one works too. 2. **Add it at your DNS provider.** Where your domain’s DNS is managed, add a TXT record. For a store on its own domain, such as example.com or www.example.com, the host or name is @. For a store on a subdomain, such as shop.example.com, the host is that subdomain: shop. Paste the whole value, ottom-verification= included, with nothing added before or after it. 3. **Wait for it to appear.** A new record usually reaches the rest of the internet within minutes. Some providers take a few hours. Nothing breaks while you wait. 4. **Check now.** Back on the store’s page, press "Check now". We look the record up, and once it matches the store is verified. You can delete the record after that. ## Who can do it Only the store’s owner: the account that first added or scanned it. Somebody else in your workspace, or the account paying for the plan, sees the store but is not offered the record. If somebody else holds a store that is yours, write to us rather than publishing a record. ## What it unlocks - Choosing what our agent does with your cookie banner: reject it the way a careful shopper would, or leave it as a shopper’s agent meets it. - Choosing how our agent walks your store. - Showing a badge on your own site. An image for your store’s own site, linking to a public page with your latest result and the date it was checked. It reads PASS only while your latest result is a pass from the last 30 days, and says so when it is not. Free on every plan, off until the owner who proved the store turns it on. ## How long a record lasts A record is valid for 14 days from when we issue it. Publish it and check within that time. After it, ask for a new one. Asking for a new record cancels the one before it. If you have already published a record, check that one first rather than asking again, or replace it with the new value. ## Stores on a shared platform domain A store on a platform’s shared domain, such as a myshopify.com address, has no DNS zone of its own to publish in, so it cannot be proved this way. On Shopify, installing our Shopify app proves the store instead. Otherwise, add the store by its own domain and prove that. ## Agencies adding a client’s store An agency adding a client’s store to a workspace by DNS uses the same kind of record, published the same way. That record adds the store to the workspace. It does not make anybody the store’s owner. How a store joins a workspace: https://ottom.io/docs/workspaces ## When the check does not find it ### We could not find the record It may not have propagated yet. Wait and press "Check now" again. You can also look it up yourself with a public DNS lookup tool for TXT records on the store’s host. ### The value was split into pieces Some providers split a long TXT value into quoted chunks. That is fine: we join them before comparing. What matters is that nothing is missing and nothing extra was added. ### The record is on the wrong host A provider that adds your domain to whatever you type turns example.com into example.com.example.com. Use @ for the domain itself and only the subdomain part for a subdomain. ### The record has expired After 14 days a record no longer counts. Get a new one from the dashboard, replace the old value with it, and check again. ## Questions ### Does the record give Ottom access to my DNS or my store? No. We only read it, the way anybody on the internet can. It proves that whoever controls the domain agreed, and nothing else. ### Can I remove the record once the store is verified? Yes. Verification is recorded when the check succeeds and does not depend on the record staying there. ### Do I have to verify my store to be monitored? No. Scans, reports and alerts work the same without it. Proving the store only lets you change how our agent treats it.