Domain Reputation ​

Domain Reputation refers to the perceived trustworthiness of a sending domain in the eyes of mailbox providers, ISPs, and anti-spam systems. It's a critical factor in determining whether your emails reach recipient's inboxes or get filtered to spam folders, directly impacting your overall deliverability success.

What is Domain Reputation? ​

Domain reputation is a score or rating assigned to your sending domain based on its historical email sending behaviors and recipient engagement patterns. Unlike IP reputation which focuses on the sending server's address, domain reputation evaluates the trustworthiness of your actual domain name (e.g., yourbusiness.com) regardless of which servers or IPs are used to send emails.

How Domain Reputation Works ​

Email receivers calculate domain reputation by continuously monitoring key metrics including authentication status (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), spam complaints, engagement levels, bounce rates, and spam trap hits. This evaluation happens continuously and dynamically adjusts as your sending patterns and recipient interactions change. Each mailbox provider maintains its own proprietary scoring system, meaning your domain's reputation can vary across different receiving systems, with Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other major providers applying their own unique filtering algorithms.

Why is Domain Reputation Important? ​

Domain reputation has become the cornerstone of email deliverability because it provides a more persistent and comprehensive view of sender trustworthiness than IP-based metrics alone. Domain reputation follows your brand across different email sending platforms, giving mailbox providers a consistent way to evaluate your sending practices even when you change ESPs or use multiple sending services like AWS SES. It's increasingly weighted more heavily than IP reputation in filtering decisions by major mailbox providers, especially as shared IP sending becomes more common. Additionally, domain reputation is more difficult to manipulate or reset than IP reputation, encouraging long-term adherence to best practices rather than short-term fixes.

Building and Maintaining Domain Reputation ​

To build and maintain a strong domain reputation, consider these best practices:

• Authenticate your emails: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to show mailbox providers your messages are trustworthy.

• Practice good list hygiene: Regularly remove hard bounces and inactive recipients from your mailing list. Immediately suppress addresses that hit the spam button.

• Focus on valuable content: Create messages that your audience will find relevant and engaging.

• Encourage positive engagement: Opens, clicks, and replies to emails have a direct positive impact on your domain reputation.

• Maintain a consistent sending pattern: Try to keep your sending volume steady and avoid large, sudden increases.

• Monitor your performance: Keep an eye on your key metrics so you can quickly identify and address any issues.

• Make unsubscribing easy: Add the required headers for one-click unsubscribe so inbox providers can show the option, and always include a visible unsubscribe link in your email that leads to a subscription management page where recipients can opt out from all communications if they wish.

By following these recommendations, you can steadily earn and keep a positive domain reputation.

Domain Reputation Monitoring ​

While mailbox providers don't publicly share their exact reputation scores, several indicators can help you assess your domain's standing:

• Inbox Placement Tools: Monitor delivery to inbox vs. spam folder to detect reputation changes.
• Authentication Reports: Track SPF or DKIM failures that may signal potential reputation issues.
• Feedback Loop Data: Information from complaint feedback loops provides direct reputation insights.
• Postmaster Tools: Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS provide limited reputation data.
• Third-Party Tools: Services like ReturnPath, 250ok, and others offer domain reputation monitoring.

Frequently Asked Questions ​

How long does it take to build a domain reputation? ​

Building a positive domain reputation typically takes 4-8 weeks of consistent, positive sending behavior, though establishing strong reputation with major providers may require several months.

Should I use subdomains for different types of email? ​

Using dedicated subdomains (e.g., marketing.yourdomain.com, transactional.yourdomain.com) helps isolate reputations for different sending purposes, protecting critical messages from cross-contamination.

What's more important: IP reputation or domain reputation? ​

Both matter, but domain reputation has become increasingly dominant in filtering decisions at major providers. A strong domain reputation can sometimes overcome modest IP reputation issues, but rarely the reverse.

Related Content ​

• IP Reputation
• Email Deliverability
• SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance)
• Bounce Rate
• Complaints