Why does Gsuite show an anti-phishing warning when sending emails?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from GMass explains that newer domains without a sending history are more likely to trigger anti-phishing warnings in Gmail.
Email marketer from Email Vendor Blog shares that warnings might appear if the sending IP address or domain has a poor reputation due to previous spam activity.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests that using suspicious links or language commonly found in phishing emails can trigger warnings.
Email marketer from MXToolbox explains that if your sending server or domain is on a public blacklist, Gmail is more likely to display warnings to recipients.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that common causes include not having proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records set up, or if the sender's domain has a poor reputation.
Email marketer from Google Workspace Learning Center explains that Gmail displays a warning when a sender outside your organization has a name similar to someone inside your organization to protect users from spoofing and phishing attempts.
Email marketer from Sendgrid explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) helps prevent your emails from being flagged as phishing attempts by email providers like Gmail.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that the error is expected if emailing from outside the tenant, if the sender's name is similar to someone in the destination tenant, and if the sender doesn't have authentication measures in place (DKIM/DMARC).
Email marketer from MailerQ explains that a poor sending domain reputation due to high bounce rates or spam complaints can cause Gmail to show anti-phishing warnings.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that sudden spikes in email volume from a domain can trigger security alerts and anti-phishing warnings in Gmail.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains Gmail's warning is triggered when an external sender's name closely matches a name in the recipient's contact list or organization, especially if authentication is weak.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that Gmail's phishing warnings are often triggered by a combination of factors, including missing or misconfigured authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), domain reputation issues, and content that mimics known phishing tactics.
Expert from Email Geeks explains it's an anti-phishing warning where mail pretends to be an employee by impersonating them but using a different email address. Legit senders shouldn't care or worry about it.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Gmail employs various anti-spoofing measures, and these warnings are a result of detecting anomalies that suggest the email might not be from who it claims to be, and that can include issues with email authentication, sender reputation, and the similarity of the sending domain to known malicious domains.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from RFC Editor details the technical specifications of DMARC, explaining how it allows domain owners to indicate how email receivers should handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM authentication.
Documentation from Google explains that Gmail uses multiple signals to identify and flag potentially spoofed messages, especially those impersonating internal users, to prevent phishing.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that maintaining a good domain reputation is crucial, and Gmail uses this reputation to help determine if warnings should be displayed.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains implementing DMARC can help prevent spoofing and phishing attacks by providing instructions to recipient mail servers on how to handle emails that fail authentication checks.
Documentation from Senders Core explains that if your domain is similar to a known phishing domain, Gmail is more likely to display a warning.