Does Gmail prioritize domain or IP reputation, and how does IP warming apply?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from GlockApps explains that domain reputation is a critical factor for email deliverability. A good domain reputation helps ensure that your emails reach the inbox, while a poor domain reputation can lead to emails being marked as spam or blocked. Monitoring your domain reputation regularly is essential.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign answers that email deliverability is influenced by various factors including sender reputation, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), engagement metrics (opens, clicks), and list hygiene. Improving these factors increases the likelihood of emails reaching the inbox.
Email marketer from Constant Contact answers that warming up a new IP address involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent, starting with your most engaged subscribers. This practice allows email providers to recognize and trust your email sending behavior. It helps establish a solid sender reputation.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that sender reputation is based on multiple factors like IP address reputation, domain reputation, and sender authentication. Good sender reputation helps ensure that the receiver will trust your email and allow it to reach the inbox.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that IP warming is a process of gradually increasing the volume of email sent from a new IP address to establish a positive sender reputation with ISPs. Starting with low volumes and gradually increasing them over time helps ISPs learn that the IP address is sending legitimate email.
Email marketer from Litmus answers that your sender reputation is a score that ISPs assign to your email program based on your sending behavior. This score helps them determine whether to deliver your emails to the inbox, spam folder, or block them altogether.
Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that Gmail increasingly prioritizes domain reputation over IP reputation, especially for senders who authenticate their emails properly. However, IP reputation still plays a role, particularly for new senders or those with low domain reputation.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that if you're starting with a new IP, it's crucial to gradually warm it up by sending small volumes to engaged users first and monitoring bounce rates. This helps establish a positive reputation with Gmail and avoid being flagged as spam.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that IP warming is an essential process for new IPs to establish trust with ISPs. It involves gradually increasing sending volume to avoid being flagged as a spammer. Start with a small number of emails to highly engaged recipients and gradually increase the volume as your reputation improves.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Google considers both domain and IP reputation. Migrating to new IPs requires warming up the new domain/IP combo to establish legitimacy.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that there isn't controlled lab evidence available, but Google employees have stated clearly that transitioning to new IPs necessitates "warming up" resources, including the d= domain, SPF domain, 5322.from domain, and the sending IP (and its rDNS domain).
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that a gradual IP warm-up is crucial, increasing volume slowly to avoid spam filters. Starting with engaged subscribers and monitoring deliverability are key.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that even though at Gmail it’s often said it’s all about the domain, if you’re starting IPs up from nothing, you need to warm them and build them up just like you would with any other provider.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that consistently following best practices and improving authentication will lead to good reputation metrics with mailbox providers, it is important to track the metrics available to you and ensure that your practices keep up with the changes.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Gmail Help explains that Gmail uses sender reputation to identify spam and abusive email. A good reputation leads to messages landing in the inbox, while a poor reputation results in messages being marked as spam or blocked.
Documentation from RFC details the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) which is used to prevent sender address forgery. SPF allows domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of their domain. Recipient mail servers can then check the SPF record to verify the message originated from an authorized server.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that using a dedicated IP address and building a good sending reputation through consistent sending practices, proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and list hygiene can improve deliverability to Outlook and Hotmail users.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that IP warm-up is the process of establishing a sending reputation for a new IP address. This involves gradually increasing the volume of mail sent over a period of weeks, while monitoring deliverability rates. This allows mailbox providers to learn about your sending patterns and build trust in your IP address.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that helps email senders and receivers protect against spam, phishing, and other email-based attacks. DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM to add reporting and policy capabilities, allowing senders to instruct receivers on how to handle unauthenticated messages.