Tagged “reputation”

6 June 2026 · 16 min read

SendGrid dedicated IPs, authentication and reputation

Most teams reach for a SendGrid dedicated IP because someone told them shared IPs are bad, or because a deliverability vendor implied that owning your own IP is the professional thing to do.

5 June 2026 · 11 min read

Bounce handling and the return-path

The envelope return-path is where bounces come back to and the domain SPF authenticates. Here is how a custom return-path on your own subdomain fixes SPF alignment under DMARC, and what really happens to a bounce.

2 June 2026 · 12 min read

Dedicated vs shared sending IPs

Dedicated and shared sending IPs carry very different reputation trade-offs, and the right choice hinges on sustained volume, not folklore. Here is who should use which, and how the decision changes SPF, DKIM and DMARC alignment, plus what your aggregate reports reveal.

24 May 2026 · 12 min read

Double opt-in and why it matters

Confirmed (double) opt-in keeps spam-trap hits, bounces and complaints off your list, the exact reputation signals that decide whether your authenticated mail reaches the inbox and clears the Gmail and Yahoo bulk-sender rules.

20 May 2026 · 12 min read

How sender reputation works

Mailbox providers decide where your mail lands based on sender reputation, a private estimate built from how recipients react to your messages and how cleanly you send. This guide explains domain and IP reputation, the signals that raise and lower them, how to warm up a new sender, and why aligned SPF, DKIM and DMARC are what keep the reputation you build genuinely yours.

6 May 2026 · 14 min read

Why legitimate email lands in spam

Real, useful email ends up in the junk folder when its signals look untrustworthy to mailbox providers. This guide breaks misfiled mail into its four root causes (authentication, reputation, content and complaints) and shows how to diagnose and fix each with concrete tools and steps, starting with the highest-leverage fix: authentication.

21 April 2026 · 13 min read

Feedback loops and complaint handling

A feedback loop (FBL) is how a mailbox provider tells you a user marked your mail as spam. Learn what FBLs are, how Yahoo, Microsoft and Gmail differ, how to enrol against your DKIM signing domain, how to read ARF reports, and how to keep your complaint rate under the 0.3% threshold.

7 April 2026 · 12 min read

Using Google Postmaster Tools

Google Postmaster Tools shows you how Gmail scores your domain and IP reputation, what share of your mail authenticates, your TLS coverage, and how often Gmail users mark your messages as spam. Here is how to read each dashboard, the spam-rate and reputation thresholds that actually matter, and how to pair it with DMARC aggregate data to find and fix the source of any problem.

3 April 2026 · 11 min read

Inbox placement testing

Inbox placement testing tells you where your mail lands (inbox, spam, a tab, or nowhere), which DMARC reports cannot. Here is how seed lists and panel tools actually work, where they mislead you, and how to cross-read their output with DMARC aggregate data so authentication faults and reputation faults stop looking identical.

2 April 2026 · 12 min read

IP warming for new sending IPs

A new sending IP starts with zero reputation, so a sudden volume spike reads as spam. Here is a sensible warm-up schedule, when a dedicated IP is even worth it, and how aligned SPF, DKIM and DMARC make the reputation you build stick to your domain instead of a leased IP.

1 April 2026 · 12 min read

List hygiene and deliverability

Authentication proves who you are; list hygiene proves you are wanted. Once DMARC enforcement welds reputation to your verified domain, dead addresses, bounces and spam-trap hits stop being diffuse problems and start hitting your signed identity directly. Here is how clean lists protect the reputation your SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup earns.

31 March 2026 · 12 min read

Using Microsoft SNDS and JMRP

Microsoft gives self-hosted senders two free feedback channels into Outlook.com filtering: SNDS for IP reputation, complaint bands and spam-trap hits, and JMRP for the individual junk complaints behind them. Here is how to enrol, read the data honestly, instrument your mail so complaints are traceable, and connect it all to your DMARC alignment so an Outlook deliverability dip becomes diagnosable instead of a mystery.

19 March 2026 · 12 min read

A subdomain strategy for sending mail

Splitting transactional, marketing and corporate mail across dedicated subdomains isolates reputation and shrinks the DMARC enforcement problem into small, independently controllable streams. Here is how to design the split, the exact SPF, DKIM and DMARC records to publish, and how to migrate without an email outage.