BIMI Logo Not Showing in Gmail Despite Valid VMC

What’s actually happening

You've published the BIMI TXT record, bought a VMC, and the logo still doesn't appear next to your name in Gmail. There's no bounce and no warning — Gmail just falls back to the generic avatar. It usually means one of the upstream conditions silently failed, and the single most common one is DMARC sitting at p=none. The logo can also take a while to appear even after everything is correct.

Common causes

• DMARC policy is p=none. BIMI requires enforcement — p=quarantine or p=reject — and most providers want the domain held at enforcement for roughly 30 days before they'll pull the logo. This is the most common cause by a wide margin.
• The SVG isn't valid SVG Tiny PS, or it's over the 32 KB limit, or it includes scripts, animation, external images, filters, or x=/y= attributes on the root <svg> element — all disallowed by the profile.
• The logo or VMC URL sits behind a redirect, or isn't served over HTTPS. BIMI assets must be fetched from a direct, non-redirecting HTTPS URL.
• The VMC (or Common Mark Certificate) is expired, from an untrusted CA, or its subject domain doesn't match the sending domain.
• You're checking in Outlook — it does not support BIMI as of 2026, so the logo will never render there regardless of setup.

How to fix it

1. Move DMARC to enforcement and waitSet p=quarantine or p=reject in your DMARC record (at pct=100). Confirm your legitimate mail still passes alignment first so you don't junk yourself. Then give it time — providers typically require the domain to stay at enforcement for around 30 days before displaying the logo.
2. Validate the SVG against the Tiny PS profileRun the file through the BIMI Group SVG validator. It must be SVG Tiny PS, under 32 KB, square (1:1), with a solid background, no scripts/animation/filters/embedded raster images, and no x= or y= on the root svg element. Re-export from your design tool if it fails rather than hand-editing.
3. Serve the SVG and VMC from direct HTTPS URLsHost both files on HTTPS with no redirect in the path (no http→https bounce, no shortener). curl -I the URLs and confirm a 200 directly, not a 301/302. The l= (logo) and a= (VMC) values in the BIMI record must point at those final URLs.
4. Check the VMC is valid and domain-matchedConfirm the certificate hasn't expired, was issued by a BIMI-recognized CA, and its subjectAltName matches the domain in your BIMI record. A mismatch or expiry makes Gmail skip the logo even when everything else is correct.
5. Test in Gmail, not OutlookSend to a Gmail account and check the inbox list view on web or mobile. Don't judge the result by Outlook — it has no BIMI support in 2026. Apple Mail and Gmail are where the logo shows.