SPF, DKIM, DMARC All Passed Yet Gmail Kept Flagging Domain as Spam
A developer running a personal newsletter domain found all standard email authentication checks passing, yet Gmail continued routing messages to spam from August 2026 onward. A controlled test sending identical content from a different address to the same 1,783 recipients achieved a 30.7% open rate, confirming the domain's reputation — not the content or delivery route — was the problem. Investigation revealed a third-party email warm-up service had remained connected to the old mail server after the domain migrated to Google Workspace, silently sending around 40 emails daily without a functioning reply path. On August 21st the warm-up service was disconnected, and the following day a reader giveaway was launched that deliberately prompted recipients to find and reply to the email from their spam folders. By September 1st, test emails began landing in the inbox, with the author attributing the recovery likely to genuine user replies signalling to Gmail that the domain was trustworthy.
This is an AI-generated summary. ShortSingh links to the original source for the complete article.

Discussion (0)
Log in to join the discussion and vote.
Log in