How does domain reputation work with subdomains and FQDNs in email sending?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that ISPs may also throw away reputation information for subdomains that don't meet minimum volume thresholds.
Email marketer from Litmus emphasizes the importance of proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for all sending domains and subdomains. Correctly configured authentication helps ISPs verify your identity and improves deliverability.
Email marketer from SendGrid states that isolating sending domains, using subdomains or dedicated domains, can help protect your main sending domain's reputation. This is especially useful for separating different types of email traffic.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign highlights that consistent sending practices and engagement metrics across your domain and subdomains contribute to your overall brand reputation. Monitoring these metrics is crucial.
Email marketer from GMass shares that newer subdomains may have lower initial reputations than established domains. It's crucial to warm up new subdomains gradually and monitor deliverability closely.
Email marketer from Hubspot suggests implementing feedback loops to proactively monitor your domain and subdomain reputation. This allows you to identify and address deliverability issues quickly.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that everything gets a reputation, and every iteration does. They have seen reputation vary between subdomains on the DKIM.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that when using shared IP addresses, your sending reputation is influenced by the sending practices of other users on the same IP. Subdomains can offer some isolation, but the IP reputation remains a factor.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that subdomains are useful for segmenting email traffic. For example, using a subdomain for transactional emails and another for marketing campaigns helps isolate reputation issues.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that using a subdomain of the org domain seems to buffer the org domains rep unless the subdomain is really going hard in the paint bad emailing.
Email marketer from StackExchange describes that using a dedicated subdomain for transactional emails and another for marketing emails lets you separate potential reputation damage caused by marketing campaigns from critical transactional messages.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that there is reputation on every FQDN and on the parent domain, and it flows up and down.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a FQDN's (Fully Qualified Domain Name) reputation is based on the sending practices associated with that specific domain name. They share that consistent sending practices and engagement data across your subdomains and overall domain affect your brand reputation.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that subdomains can have their own reputation separate from the parent domain, and this separation can be useful for isolating the impact of different types of email campaigns (e.g., transactional vs. marketing). They advise using subdomains strategically to protect the main domain's reputation.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that 99.9% of the time, reputation is based on the whole domain, including the subdomain part, also known as the FQDN.
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost mentions that when warming up a new IP address or subdomain, it's important to gradually increase sending volume to build a positive reputation with ISPs. FQDN reputation builds over time based on sending practices.
Documentation from DMARC.org shares that DMARC policies applied to a domain can also affect subdomains. Understanding how these policies interact is critical for managing email authentication and reputation.
Documentation from Google explains that using subdomains can help protect your primary domain's reputation. If one subdomain has issues, it's less likely to negatively impact the reputation of your main domain.
Documentation from RFC Editor defines a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) as a domain name that specifies its exact location in the domain name hierarchy and ends with a root domain. It provides a unique identification for an internet host.
Documentation from AWS advises users to separate sending domains for different email types to isolate reputation risks. Using dedicated subdomains for marketing or transactional emails can help protect your core domain reputation.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that a poor sending reputation on a subdomain can negatively impact the overall domain reputation. They recommend carefully monitoring all subdomains used for sending email.