Does using Google Fonts preconnect links in emails negatively affect SpamAssassin reputation?

Email marketer from Sendinblue advises keeping email code clean and avoiding excessive HTML to help improve deliverability. They suggest that bloated code and unnecessary elements can trigger spam filters. Using web-safe fonts instead of external fonts is one way to simplify email code.

Email marketer from Mailjet recommends optimizing email size and minimizing external requests to improve deliverability. They highlight that large emails or emails with numerous external resources may be flagged as suspicious by spam filters. While Google Fonts aren't explicitly mentioned, reducing external dependencies is suggested as a general best practice.

Email marketer from Stack Overflow responds that using Google Fonts *might* affect your spam score, depending on the overall content and other factors. Google fonts need to be downloaded by the email client which can create a request to an external server, raising a flag. They recommend using web-safe fonts instead.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares that while custom fonts can enhance branding, they aren't universally supported in email clients. This marketer recommends providing fallback fonts and testing emails to ensure consistent rendering. They do not address SpamAssassin directly.

Email marketer from Reddit shares their experience that using Google Fonts didn't noticeably affect their deliverability when implemented correctly with proper fallbacks. However, they recommend monitoring deliverability metrics closely after any template changes.

Email marketer from Litmus provides insights into email client support for web fonts, emphasizing that not all email clients render web fonts correctly, or at all. This inconsistency can lead to unexpected email display. Testing with various email clients is crucial to ensure a consistent and readable experience for all subscribers.

Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that while web fonts can enhance email design, they can also impact deliverability and rendering. Some email clients may not support web fonts, causing fallback fonts to be displayed, which can affect the overall look. They recommend testing email with different fonts to ensure consistency.

Email marketer from HubSpot explains that a number of factors impact email deliverability. Using a dedicated IP address, asking recipients to whitelist you, and removing inactive email addresses from your list all help to protect deliverability. While they don't mention specific fonts, they say to be mindful of your code-to-text ratio, which Google Fonts could affect if not implemented well.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that SpamAssassin is not used by any large commercial system, but by niche appliances and tiny ISPs. Also, he mentions he is familiar with SpamAssassin and it's unlikely to score based on Google Fonts preconnect links.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that while `preconnect` is intended to improve perceived performance by initiating early connections, its effectiveness in email is limited due to varying email client support and rendering capabilities. It might negligibly contribute to a negative reputation if it's part of a broader pattern of suspicious behavior, but is unlikely to be a primary factor.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that the current official SpamAssassin rules only mention Google API URLs for Firebase and Storage, often used for phishing, but not for fonts.

Documentation from Google Fonts explains that the service is optimized for performance and reliability. The service provides CSS code to be added to a webpage, but has limited information regarding email. It says fonts are cached, reducing latency and bandwidth. However, this does not guarantee email deliverability and mentions nothing about SpamAssassin.

Documentation from Spamhaus details the factors influencing IP and domain reputation, stating that external links to known bad neighborhoods or practices that resemble spammer behavior could negatively impact sender reputation and affect deliverability. Preconnect links to Google Fonts themselves wouldn't be inherently 'bad', but a high quantity of external requests in a single email may warrant a closer look by filters.

Documentation from RFC 5322 (Internet Message Format) outlines the standards for email formatting, which indirectly touches on deliverability. Deviations from these standards, such as malformed HTML or excessive external content, could potentially impact spam scores. Although it does not explicitly mention fonts or SpamAssassin, adhering to the standard helps ensure compatibility and avoids triggering filters.

Documentation from Apache SpamAssassin Wiki details that network tests (e.g., DNS lookups) are performed, and emails with excessive or suspicious network activity can be flagged. While it doesn't mention Google Fonts directly, it implies that multiple external requests could contribute to a higher spam score.

Documentation from Mozilla Developer Network explains that the 'preconnect' value of the 'rel' attribute on a link is intended to indicate that the browser should preemptively establish a connection to the linked origin. This may improve page load times, but in the context of email, preconnecting may not always be supported by email clients or respected by spam filters.