Guide
Google & Yahoo sender requirements — the checklist
Since 2024 the big mailbox providers enforce a baseline for senders. Here's exactly what they want and how to meet it.
Check your domain now →What it is
In February 2024 Google and Yahoo (with Microsoft following) began enforcing sender requirements: authenticate your mail with SPF and DKIM, publish a DMARC record, keep your visible From domain aligned with what passes authentication, and — for bulk senders — offer one-click unsubscribe and keep spam complaints low.
"Bulk" is officially ~5,000+ messages a day to Gmail/Yahoo, but the authentication rules effectively apply to everyone: mail that isn't authenticated is increasingly filtered or rejected regardless of volume.
Why it matters
These aren't guidelines any more — they're enforced. Unauthenticated bulk mail gets rejected outright; borderline mail lands in spam. If your deliverability quietly dropped in 2024, this is usually why.
Meeting the baseline also protects your brand: DMARC at enforcement is what stops criminals sending phishing that looks like it came from your domain.
How to set it up
- 1Publish an SPF record listing every service that sends as you, ending in ~all or -all (watch the 10-lookup limit).
- 2Turn on DKIM signing at your email provider and publish the key it gives you.
- 3Publish a DMARC record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com — start at p=none with a rua= address to gather data.
- 4Confirm alignment: the From domain must match the domain that passes SPF or DKIM. Fix any sender that doesn't.
- 5For bulk sending, add one-click unsubscribe (List-Unsubscribe headers) and keep your Postmaster Tools spam rate under 0.3%.
- 6Once your real senders all pass, move DMARC to p=quarantine, then p=reject.
Common problems
- Do these rules apply if I send low volume?
- The one-click-unsubscribe and spam-rate rules target bulk senders (~5,000/day), but SPF, DKIM and DMARC apply to everyone in practice — low-volume unauthenticated mail is filtered too. Set all three up regardless of volume.
- I have SPF and DKIM but mail still gets filtered — why?
- Usually alignment: your From domain doesn't match the domain that passed SPF or DKIM, so DMARC fails. Check your DMARC reports (or paste one into our report analyzer) to see which sender is misaligned.
- What spam rate is acceptable?
- Google's Postmaster Tools should show your spam complaint rate below 0.10% ideally, and never at or above 0.30%. Above that, Gmail starts filtering you aggressively.
Check it — then keep it healthy
Run a free scan now, or let DomainHealthPro monitor it continuously and alert you the moment it breaks.