Raj Kapoor Why is my email going to spam? Almost never the words in your message. Mailbox providers filter on identity and behaviour, in this order: (1) authentication — if SPF, DKIM and DMARC don’t pass and align, bulk mail is filtered or rejected; (2) sender reputation (your domain more than your IP); (3) recipient engagement — … Read more
An email blacklist (also called a blocklist or DNSBL) is a published database of IP addresses and domains known for sending spam, which receiving mail servers check in real time to decide whether to block or filter your messages. Landing on a major one can stop your email dead. This guide explains what an email … Read more
How to check your email sender reputation: there is no single universal score — check it per provider with their free tools. Use Google Postmaster Tools for Gmail (spam rate, authentication, compliance), Microsoft SNDS for Outlook (per-IP complaint and trap data), and Yahoo Sender Hub for Yahoo and AOL. Alongside those, confirm your sending IPs … Read more
How to warm up a new email domain: first get authentication right (SPF, DKIM, DMARC and valid reverse DNS) — no ramp survives without it. Then increase volume gradually over about 4–8 weeks: send week one only to your most engaged contacts, widen the audience each week, and add long-dormant addresses last. Keep per-provider volume … Read more
BIMI logo not showing in Gmail? The usual cause is that your DMARC policy isn’t at enforcement (p=quarantine or p=reject at pct=100) — without it Gmail never even evaluates BIMI. The second cause is the certificate: Gmail ignores self-asserted logos, so you need a BIMI VMC certificate (for the blue checkmark) or a CMC. After … Read more
Direct fix — why forwarded email fails DMARC: when a message is forwarded or sent through a mailing list, the intermediary rewrites the body and relays it from its own IP, which breaks DKIM and SPF — so DMARC fails even though the mail is genuine. The fix is ARC (Authenticated Received Chain): the forwarder … Read more
How to set up a TLS-RPT record (quick version): (1) choose where reports go — a dedicated mailbox like tlsrpt@yourdomain.com or an HTTPS endpoint; (2) publish a TXT record at _smtp._tls.yourdomain.com reading v=TLSRPTv1; rua=mailto:tlsrpt@yourdomain.com; (3) turn it on before you flip MTA-STS to enforce, so you gain visibility first; (4) point the daily JSON at … Read more
How to set up MTA-STS policy enforcement (quick version): (1) make sure every MX host has a valid TLS certificate; (2) stand up an HTTPS host at mta-sts.yourdomain.com and serve the MTA-STS policy file at /.well-known/mta-sts.txt in mode: testing; (3) publish the _mta-sts MTA-STS record (TXT) with a unique id; (4) turn on TLS-RPT and … Read more
Direct fix — reverse DNS not set up for SMTP: your sending IP has no valid PTR record, so Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook reject the connection — often with a 550 5.7.1 PTR record error. You can’t fix this in your domain DNS: the PTR lives in the reverse zone owned by whoever owns the … Read more
An MX record is the DNS entry that tells the rest of the internet which servers accept email for your domain. Every message sent to an address at your domain is routed by its MX record, which makes it the foundation of inbound mail — get it wrong and you simply stop receiving email. This … Read more