Google Implements Measures to Combat Gmail Spam, Revises Email Sender Guidelines for Bulk Senders
Gmail Users Sending Over 5,000 Emails Daily Required to Authenticate Their Accounts.
Gmail users will soon see even less spam in their inboxes. Google is taking strict action to reduce spam emails and the firm has recently updated its Email Sender Guidelines, adding a long list of requirements from bulk senders, and shared a timeline for enforcing action. Gmail now requires bulk senders to authenticate their accounts to avoid getting error messages on sent emails, and eventually having them rejected. The tech giant first announced the planned changes to reduce spam in October last year and highlighted that starting in 2024, it will begin adding Gmail protections for a safer email inbox.
Bulk senders will now be required to follow a long list of guidelines to avoid being blocked by the company. These include setting up SPF and DKIM email authentication, ensuring domains have valid forward and reverse DNS records, keeping spam rates below 0.1 percent and avoiding ever reaching more than 0.3 percent, and more. Further, Google now requires marketing messages and subscribed messages to come with a one-click unsubscribe button and a visible unsubscribe link in the message body.
As per Google’s updated FAQ, a bulk sender is someone who sends more than 5,000 emails to personal Gmail accounts in a 24-hour cycle. All emails sent from a primary domain will count towards this number. Emails sent to Google Workspace accounts will not be considered a part of this, however, if a Workspace account sends messages to personal Gmail accounts, the rule will apply. Once an account has been assigned as a bulk sender, it cannot be removed.
Starting in February, the guidelines have been enforced, requiring Gmail users sending over 5,000 emails daily to authenticate their accounts. Non-compliant bulk senders will initially receive error messages on a small percentage of their emails, allowing time for resolution.
Post-April 2024, Google will escalate measures, rejecting a certain percentage of non-compliant emails, with gradual increases in rejection rates for repeated violations. The exact rejection percentages remain undisclosed by Google.
Compliant emails will remain unaffected by these measures as outlined in the guidelines. Additionally, bulk senders are given until June 1 to implement one-click unsubscribe options for all commercial and promotional emails. Users exceeding a 0.3 percent spam rate will not qualify for mitigation of their status.
