Domain Blacklisted But Passing Spam Tests!

Alex Read

Alex Read

Active Member
Hi

I have a test domain website.info that I've run some tests on.

Tests I've Done:
1) In Mailwizz, I sent a test email without:
- any links or any risky text in the body, it goes straight to gmail spam.
- 1 sentence in the body. (E.g. is this email received or is this a risky domain?)
Result: goes straight to gmail spam with an alert that the domain has been flagged before.
2) In Gmail I've sent an email like above as an alias. (i.e. the send mail as feature) (to rule out ElasticEmail/Spark post sending IP issue, etc)
Result: goes straight to gmail spam with same alert!

Assumption: there is an issue with the domain.

However, I sent a test email to mail-tester.com
https://www.mail-tester.com/test-zk1rq
and I get 10/10 and pass ALL tests.

Does anybody have any theories how this can be? Is the domain blacklisted somewhere and if so, why would mail-tester.com not pick it up.
 
Gmail has their own internal blacklists and measuring system. I have had a 99/100 senderscore with zero spam complaints but gmail will put it in spam. Check your domain and IP rating in google postmaster tools.

P.S. I also get a 10/10 on mailtester...
 
@Vroom - that makes sense! I figured it related only to Gmail.

A few quick questions:
1) is it worth using a new domain if Gmail has flagged it?
2) Any tips to keep it out of Google's radar?
 
How much mail have you sent on that domain and IP? It could be you didnt do warm up. Google puts things in spam if you don't warm up the sending IP and domain.
 
@Vroom
1) I use Elastic Email & spark post so the IP is warm as it's shared.
2) Does the domain need warming up?
If so, any recommendations to do this?
3) Is there a way to get it de-blacklisted?
4) I've sent about 15k emails I guess.
 
First step is to sign up for google postmaster tools and check out what rating they gave you:

https://postmaster.google.com/

I believe the domain also needs to be warmed up. If you check in postmaster tools it will tell you your domain rating and IP rating. If IP rating is not bad and domain rating is bad then you know its the domain not being warmed up. (This assumes you arent getting spam complaints.)
 
This is the last 30 days.

Do you have any guidelines on warming up the domain?
 

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User reported spam is always 0 for some reason. What does the domain reputation status and IP reputation status say?
 
@Vroom
1) That's an IP warmup schedule. Does the same apply to domains?
2) Dom Rep = bad.
3) IP rep = no data.

Looks like there's nothing to be done here.
A few quick q's:
1) If I give it time can it recover?
2) Is it worth using a domain if Gmail is sending it to spam?
 
I have heard you should warm up on any change in combination of IP/domain. So even a warm domain with a new IP or a warm IP with a new domain.

Dom rep = bad is whats putting it in the spam folder. But its possible that simply sending out without warming up put you in the bad rep category. I dont have experience on fixing it. Maybe someone else can advise.
 
Since the domain rules aren't working in mailwizz you cant really set domain specific limits to separate delivery servers. So you would have to just set over all limits (hourly limit, daily limit, and pause between connections).

I am not very experienced with warming up IPs, but I would start with hourly limit 1, daily limit 24, and 2 minute delay between connections, and then follow the schedule in the PDF. Second day make it 2 hourly, 48 daily. Eventually you will need to reduce and remove the delay between connections when you cross 30 per hour.

I dont think it works to recover a domain already in bad reputation, at least not immediately.

Gmail has become a lot more strict recently. I am now seeing legitimate mails from things I signed up for going to spam, even many big company emails are going to spam. It was never like this before this year.

Also in the past I would start sending without any warm up and never had a problem. Now they are immediately giving bad reputation and making you prove you arent a spammer, rather than giving benefit of the doubt.
 
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