How To Prevent Outgoing Email From Being Marked As Spam

The actions you can take to lessen the likelihood that outbound messages will be regarded as spam are covered in this article.

This post is meant for users whose emails are being flagged as spam even when they are legitimate. Ensure that you are conversant with the FCC CAN-SPAM Act’s regulations regarding spam.Contents Table of

How to help prevent outgoing e-mail from being marked as spam
Sending e-mail to free e-mail providers
Yahoo
Gmail
MSN and Hotmail
EarthLink
What to do if your e-mail is blocked by a real-time blacklist

How to help prevent outgoing e-mail from being marked as spam

Mail servers filter spam using a variety of methods. Administrators must regularly alter server configurations to assist decrease spam because spammers are always finding ways to get around these anti-spam methods. Therefore, you cannot guarantee that every one of your outgoing messages gets delivered correctly by doing a single action.

Nevertheless, there are still some things you can do to help improve the odds of successful delivery. Try the following techniques:

• If possible, do not send HTML-only messages (send plain-text messages instead, or multi-part MIME messages with a text/plain component).
• If you do send HTML-only messages, make sure they use valid HTML markup. You can use the W3C Markup Validation Service to test content (you can test a URL, upload a file, or paste HTML into a text box).
• Avoid using lots of exclamation marks (!) or dollar signs ($) in the message subject.
• Create SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records and enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). For information about how to do this.

Sending e-mail to free e-mail providers

Free e-mail providers such as Yahoo and Hotmail reject messages based on spam reports or a poor IP address reputation. So the more engaged your recipients are with your messages, the better. For example, when your recipients open and read your messages, or pull them out of the spam folder into their inboxes, these are positive indications to the provider that the messages are legitimate.

There are several additional things you can do to improve the chances that your e-mail messages are delivered successfully to recipients who use free e-mail providers:

Please note that it may take several days for any changes to have an effect.

Create SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records and enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). For information about how to do this.

Set up reverse DNS (also known as rDNS) for your domain. For information about how to do this.

Gmail

Create SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records and enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). For information about how to do this.

Set up reverse DNS (also known as rDNS) for your domain. For information about how to do this.

For information about Google’s e-mail policies, please visit https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126.

MSN and Hotmail

Create SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records and enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). For information about how to do this.

Set up reverse DNS (also known as rDNS) for your domain. For information about how to do this.

Sign up for the Junk Email Reporting Partner (JMRP) program. To do this, please visit https://postmaster.live.com/snds/JMRP.aspx.Make sure you save the verification number. You will need this number for any future correspondence with Microsoft.

Sign up for Smart Network Data Services (SNDS). To do this, please visit https://postmaster.live.com/snds/addnetwork.aspx.

EarthLink

Create SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records and enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). For information about how to do this.

Set up reverse DNS (also known as rDNS) for your domain. For information about how to do this.

Send a request to EarthLink asking them to unblock your IP address. To do this, send the request to blockedbyearthlink@abuse.earthlink.net with the subject line Blocked IP_ADDRESS. Replace IP_ADDRESS with your own IP address. For more information, please visit http://support.earthlink.net/articles/email/email-blocked-by-earthlink.php.

Yahoo

Organizations such as SpamCop and Spamhaus may block your outgoing messages.

If you are using a dynamic IP address, this may happen because a previous user of your IP address had a compromised computer that was sending spam. As a result, the IP address has been blacklisted. You can try contacting your ISP and have them issue you a new IP address, or you can just use your ISP’s SMTP servers to send e-mail. (You would continue to use Hostvento Hosting’s servers for incoming mail.)

If you have a static IP address, and absolutely must use Hostvento Hosting servers for outgoing SMTP mail, you must follow the instructions from the blocking organization to remove yourself from their blacklist. Before you do this, you should make sure that none of your computers are infected with a virus or other malware.

We are not affiliated with any blacklist organizations, and we do not have any control over their blacklists or policies.

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