gmail is blocking emails from my domain
your mail goes to spam in gmail or bounces silently. spf, dkim, dmarc, and the sender reputation around them are the four levers.
gmail does not 'block' mail randomly. it scores every inbound message against sender reputation, authentication records, and content signals. when the score is below a threshold, the message lands in spam or is rejected outright. the four things you can fix from your side are all about authentication: spf, dkim, dmarc, and the sender reputation that flows from doing those correctly. the public check cannot see how gmail scores your specific messages, but it can verify whether the four records that build the score are present and correct.
what this looks like to a visitor
- test email to gmail goes straight to spam folder
- you get an automated bounce mentioning '550 5.7.26' or 'dmarc fail'
- google postmaster tools shows a low domain reputation
- you can send to outlook and yahoo but not gmail
what a public browser check can see
we look up the txt record on your sending domain. without spf, gmail treats the message as forgeable and most messages end up in spam.
we check the dkim selector your mail server signs with. missing or rotated keys are the most common cause of silent gmail rejection.
we read your dmarc record. p=none is permissive but useless; p=quarantine or p=reject without correct spf/dkim alignment will block your own legitimate mail.
we see which provider serves your mx. some shared hosts share ips with thousands of senders and inherit a bad reputation — no amount of spf/dkim fixes that.
we do not log into your site. we do not scrape customer data. we open your public homepage in a real browser session and report what we see. no security claims unless we can prove them from the public surface.
the deeper picture
the four patterns: (1) no spf record. spf tells receiving servers which ips are allowed to send for your domain. without it, gmail treats every message as potentially forged. fix: publish v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com -all (adjust for your providers). (2) dkim broken or rotating. dkim is a cryptographic signature on every outbound message. when keys rotate (annually for some providers) and you forget to update the dns record, signature verification fails silently and gmail downgrades trust. fix: confirm the selector with your mail provider, publish the current public key. (3) dmarc misconfigured. dmarc tells receivers what to do when spf or dkim fail — and what address to send reports to. p=none does nothing; p=reject without correct spf+dkim alignment will reject your own mail. fix: start at p=none with rua reporting, fix any failures the reports show, then escalate. (4) shared sender ip with bad reputation. if you send through a shared host's php mail() or a low-cost smtp service, the ip you send from has thousands of other senders and inherits whatever spam reputation they have. fix: move to a dedicated sender (google workspace, microsoft 365, postmark, resend, sendgrid).
fix it yourself
fix one record at a time. first: spf — add or update the v=spf1 record so it includes every service you actually send through (google workspace, mailchimp, your hosting smtp). second: dkim — set the selector your mail provider tells you, publish the public key. third: dmarc — start at p=none with rua reporting, monitor for a week, then move to p=quarantine. fourth: send a test through mail-tester.com — it scores deliverability and tells you exactly what is missing.
run the audit on YOUR site — check for "gmail is blocking emails from my domain"
we open your homepage in a real headless browser and report what we see. no login, no plugin install.
public browser check · no signup · result on the next page
or pay us once.
this is a multi-hour fix if you have not done it before. the records are straightforward but the order matters and gmail takes 24-48 hours to re-score after changes. if you do not want to learn what dmarc alignment is, the $99 fix path: we publish correct spf/dkim/dmarc on your sending domain, verify delivery to gmail/outlook/yahoo from a clean test mailbox, hand back proof. monitoring at $19/mo catches future regressions (dkim key rotations, host changes).
frequently asked
spf alone is not enough for gmail in 2026. you need spf, dkim, and dmarc all aligned, plus a sender that has consistent reputation. mail-tester.com will show you which is missing.
yes — each service (google workspace, mailchimp, postmark) signs with its own selector. you publish the public key for each one. they do not conflict.
gmail's specific code for 'this message does not have valid authentication' — meaning spf, dkim, or dmarc failed. the fix is whichever of the three is missing or misaligned.
for sending from a workspace mailbox, yes. for sending via web forms or third-party services that send 'as' your domain, no — those still need their own spf inclusion and dkim selector.
other fix guides
- why is my wordpress site slow— what an external browser sees when your wordpress homepage takes too long to render — and the four things that are almost always behind it.
- shopify checkout feels broken — how to find out why— a public browser check of your shopify storefront can surface the visible reasons people abandon. here is what we look for.
- contact form looks fine but i'm not getting emails— this is the most common silent failure mode of small-business websites. four reasons it usually is — and how a public check can rule out the wrong ones.
- wix site not showing on google — what a public check can tell you— your wix site exists, but it does not appear in google search results. four reasons that explain almost every case.
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