How to check domain email blacklist
If you are looking for how to check a domain email blacklist, the chances are that you have somehow found yourself on one. But how do you check if you’re on one and how did you get yourself on one in the first place? We’ve got some answers…
WHAT IS AN EMAIL BLACKLIST?
An email blacklist is a list of domains, email addresses, or IP addresses associated with sending spam email. Internet service providers, anti-spam organizations, and email services use their email blacklist to direct their automated services to blacklist (block) any email coming from the sources on this list.
Organizations use email blacklisting to keep their services from getting bogged down and buried in complaints from users who have received spam mail.
WHAT IS EMAIL BLACKLISTING?
E-mail blacklisting is the process of adding a new entity to the email blacklist. To be added to the blacklist, an organization usually has proof (or reason to suspect) that the email address, IP address, or domain being blacklisted has been involved in sending spam emails.
An organization may suspect you of sending spam email if you suddenly change your email habits and go from sending a couple of emails a day to hundreds of emails a day. This type of change gets automatically flagged by computer systems because it is an anomaly.
IS MY EMAIL BLACKLISTED AS SPAM?
There are a few signs that may indicate that your email has been blacklisted.
Your E-mail Open Rates Have Dropped Significantly
If you run regular email campaigns and keep an eye on your campaign stats, you might notice a significant drop in email open rates. When your email is blacklisted, your emails are being blocked so your recipients are no longer receiving them, and if your readers aren’t getting your emails, there’s no way they can open them!
You Receive Complaint Emails
In some instances, you may have found yourself on the blacklist if your email address has been used in a spoofing scam (where spam is sent and manipulated to show it as being sent by your email address) or if your account has been hacked and actually has been used to send spam email.
If either of the above examples happens, you are very likely to receive complaint emails from people who received spam mail from your email address.
You may also receive a complaint email from your ISP or email provider
Your Regular Emails Are Not Being Delivered
If your regular emails are being returned as undeliverable and you know for certain that the email address you are corresponding with is valid, you are likely on a blacklist somewhere.
HOW DOES EMAIL BLACKLISTING WORK?
Wondering how email blacklists work?
Internet service providers and email services use programs to monitor their services. When an anomaly is picked up by the program – for example, your email address has just sent a spike of 200 emails in one hour – the program adds your IP or your domain to a designated blacklist so that you cannot continue what is suspected as suspicious activity.
IS MY DOMAIN ON AN EMAIL BLACKLIST?
In the section above we covered how to determine whether your email address is blacklisted. If your domain name has been blacklisted, you will notice many of the same changes take place. You may also get a notice from your hosting company warning you of the violation or even suspending your account.
HOW TO CHECK FOR EMAIL BLACKLIST
The easiest way to do a quick check to see if your email has been blacklisted is to use one of the many blacklist scanning tools out there. These services check blacklists using your IP address or domain name.
Some of the most popular tools to check domain email blacklists include:
• Mxtoolbox
• MultiRBL
• Spamhaus
• Invaluement
• Spamcop
• SURBL
Since each service noted above has unique functions, they all give you simple instructions for how to check your email against the list.
IS MY EMAIL BLACKLISTED BY GMAIL?
Some large email providers like Gmail have their own blacklist. Not only does this list use information from Google (Gmail’s parent company,) but it also uses data drawn from other blacklists as well.
If you are on the Gmail blacklist, you will receive a bounce message from Gmail servers when trying to send mail.
WHY IS MY EMAIL BLACKLISTED?
If any of the tools show that your email has been blacklisted, you may be wondering how your email got blacklisted. There are a few common reasons that can get your email blacklisted.
WHY IS EMAIL BLACKLISTED?
- If recipients of your email have clicked the “This is Spam” button after receiving your email, your content will be flagged as being spam.
- If you suddenly have a significant change in outgoing email – as we mentioned previously, going from two emails per day to all of a sudden sending out two hundred emails a day.
- Your email address is being spoofed – spammers are using your email address as their own so it seems as though you are sending spam mail.
- Your email address has been hacked and is genuinely being used to send spam mail.
WHAT DOES EMAIL BLACKLISTED MEAN?
So, what does it mean if you have been blacklisted? Aside from your account being suspected of suspicious email sending activity, it means that any email you try to send using the blocked account is not going to be delivered to the recipient.
HOW TO GET OFF EMAIL BLACKLIST
So, you’ve been blacklisted and now you want to know how to be removed from email blacklist sites…where do you begin?
The first step in how to get removed from email blacklist sites is to read the email message you received notifying you that you have been blacklisted. This email will contain specific directions on how to remove yourself from email blacklist listings.
Each provider or service has different requirements for reinstating your ability to send an email, so be sure to read the email message you received when blacklisted and follow the directions you are given in how to remove a domain from email blacklists.
Below are a few examples of protocols required by specific email providers to get removed from their email blacklist assuming that you have corrected the issue that caused your email to be flagged.
HOW TO GET OFF YAHOO EMAIL BLACKLIST
When your email address has been blacklisted by Yahoo, the first step in getting removed from the blacklist is checking Spamhaus. Yahoo uses the Spamhaus blacklist, so if you are on this list, your yahoo email will be blacklisted.
Request removal from the Spamhaus blacklist.
Once removed from Spamhaus, you may find that your email is working again. If your email is still not working correctly, however, you will need to fill in a request form with Yahoo to request removal from their blacklist.
Yahoo tries to remove emails from their blacklist within forty-eight hours after the removal request if all criteria have been met.
HOW TO GET OFF GOOGLE EMAIL BLACKLIST
Google email blacklist removal requires you to first verify your email by adding DKIM, SPF, and
DMARC to your DNS records if you do not already have them.
If you have authenticated your email and remedied the original error that caused you to be blacklisted, you may find that your email is removed from the blacklist within five days.
If your email is not removed from the blacklist after taking the steps above, you will need to fill in a request form for blacklist removal.
HOW TO REMOVE YOUR IP ADDRESS FROM MICROSOFT’S EMAIL BLACKLIST
To get removed from Microsoft’s email blacklist, the first thing you need to do is to check all of the big public blacklists to ensure that you are not listed on those. If you are listed on any of those blacklists, request removal.
If you are not listed on any of the major blacklists and you have remedied the problem causing you to be blacklisted, you need to fill in a blacklist removal request form. Removal usually takes between two and three days.
HOW TO AVOID GETTING EMAIL BLACKLISTED
If you’re wondering how to avoid email blacklist trouble, there are a few things that you can do –
- Be sure that your server is properly secured.
- Do not manually send bulk emails!
- If you send out a newsletter, use a newsletter program and be sure that every email address on your list is double-opt-in.
- Even when your email newsletter subscribers are double-opt-in addresses, ALWAYS include an unsubscribe link on every newsletter you send.
- Never misuse email addresses that you have been trusted with via a double-opt-in process.
- Frequently check your email subscribers to ensure that those on your list still wish to be on your list.
HOW TO BLOCK EMAIL BLACKLIST
Wondering if you can game the system and block email blacklists so that your email doesn’t get flagged for spam? Don’t!
While there are some questionable methods out there that can be used to skirt CAN-SPAM Act rules, the penalty, if you are caught sending unsolicited email, includes a fine of up to $11,000! Not to mention, that sending junk email reflects very poorly on your business!
