Email Blacklist: Meaning, Reasons and How to Avoid Being a Part of It
Where we have good, we have bad too! Where there is white, there is black too!
This runs true in the online marketing world also where E-mail marketing is considered the king and has two sides to it the Inbox or the spam!
So, ever faced a situation in which your e-mail open rate went extremely down or a major portion of all your e-mails were landing up in spam? That’s exactly what blacklisting is all about.
Many times an e-mailer lands up in a situation where they have not done anything incorrect but on checking the status of their IP address they discover they have been blacklisted! Having the IP or domain added to a blacklist can seriously affect a sender’s reputation and ultimately the email deliverability.
Furthermore, once added to a blacklist, it's not a simple case to be expelled. It's essential to comprehend for what reason you're on a blacklist and fix the root cause of the listing so your domain or IP addresses don't finish up on the blacklist once more.
Let’s get into details about what exactly is an E-MAIL BLACKLIST!
What is an Email Blacklist?
Email Blacklists are live databases which store explicit data about IP locations and Domain addresses flagged as SPAM. These Blacklists are made to help keep SPAM from being sent to someone else's inbox. The criteria considered to distinguish spammy emails fluctuates from each blacklist provider. Each list examines inbound mail with various techniques and distinguishes the red flags continuously. There are more than 300 publicly available spam blacklists in which some convey more weight than others.
Types of Blacklisting
There are two main kinds of blacklists
• IP-based blacklists - An IP-based blocklist is a real-time collection of sending IPs that sent spam or other types of email abuse.
• Domain-based blacklists - A domain blocklist (DBL) is a real-time collection of sending domains that have sent spam or other types of email abuse.
Every blacklist is not accessible to all. On the basis of accessibility, the blacklists are categorized as-
• Public Blacklist – These are lists that are accessible to the public and can be checked by anybody at whenever.
• Private Blacklist- These are lists set up inside by significant Internet Service Providers to find spam utilizing internal measures and criteria. These are generally utilized by the major email service providers including Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.
• Spam firewalls – These lists are a system of firewalls and blacklists which are utilized by companies to ensure their internal servers. Common examples are McAfee.
How blacklists affect email deliverability?
All Email Service Providers (ESPs) have some type of protection against various spam complaints on their platforms. The least difficult strategy for protection is blocking your email address when it shows up on an outstanding blacklist.
When your ESP chooses to hinder your mailing efforts, it tends to be troublesome and tedious to get unblocked. Depending on the case, it might even be simpler to set up a new account to speed things up. Be that as it may, this is never recommended.
Seeming on numerous occasions on a blacklist or being blocked by your ESP also adversely influences your sender reputation. It is hard to expand upon a damaged sender reputation which is the reason it is best practice to abstain from being put on blacklists when you can.
You may ask yourself, yet for what reason do I get blacklisted?
4 common reasons for being blacklisted
Here are the most common reasons behind being blacklisted:
This runs true in the online marketing world also where E-mail marketing is considered the king and has two sides to it the Inbox or the spam!
So, ever faced a situation in which your e-mail open rate went extremely down or a major portion of all your e-mails were landing up in spam? That’s exactly what blacklisting is all about.
Many times an e-mailer lands up in a situation where they have not done anything incorrect but on checking the status of their IP address they discover they have been blacklisted! Having the IP or domain added to a blacklist can seriously affect a sender’s reputation and ultimately the email deliverability.
Furthermore, once added to a blacklist, it's not a simple case to be expelled. It's essential to comprehend for what reason you're on a blacklist and fix the root cause of the listing so your domain or IP addresses don't finish up on the blacklist once more.
Let’s get into details about what exactly is an E-MAIL BLACKLIST!
What is an Email Blacklist?
Email Blacklists are live databases which store explicit data about IP locations and Domain addresses flagged as SPAM. These Blacklists are made to help keep SPAM from being sent to someone else's inbox. The criteria considered to distinguish spammy emails fluctuates from each blacklist provider. Each list examines inbound mail with various techniques and distinguishes the red flags continuously. There are more than 300 publicly available spam blacklists in which some convey more weight than others.
Types of Blacklisting
There are two main kinds of blacklists
• IP-based blacklists - An IP-based blocklist is a real-time collection of sending IPs that sent spam or other types of email abuse.
• Domain-based blacklists - A domain blocklist (DBL) is a real-time collection of sending domains that have sent spam or other types of email abuse.
Every blacklist is not accessible to all. On the basis of accessibility, the blacklists are categorized as-
• Public Blacklist – These are lists that are accessible to the public and can be checked by anybody at whenever.
• Private Blacklist- These are lists set up inside by significant Internet Service Providers to find spam utilizing internal measures and criteria. These are generally utilized by the major email service providers including Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.
• Spam firewalls – These lists are a system of firewalls and blacklists which are utilized by companies to ensure their internal servers. Common examples are McAfee.
How blacklists affect email deliverability?
All Email Service Providers (ESPs) have some type of protection against various spam complaints on their platforms. The least difficult strategy for protection is blocking your email address when it shows up on an outstanding blacklist.
When your ESP chooses to hinder your mailing efforts, it tends to be troublesome and tedious to get unblocked. Depending on the case, it might even be simpler to set up a new account to speed things up. Be that as it may, this is never recommended.
Seeming on numerous occasions on a blacklist or being blocked by your ESP also adversely influences your sender reputation. It is hard to expand upon a damaged sender reputation which is the reason it is best practice to abstain from being put on blacklists when you can.
You may ask yourself, yet for what reason do I get blacklisted?
4 common reasons for being blacklisted
Here are the most common reasons behind being blacklisted:
1. Frequent spam complaint rate
You may get a spam complaint occasionally in the event that you are an email marketer however there is a sure breaking point set by ISPs that you can't breach. This number is for the most part around 1 spam complaint per 1000 users.
2. A sudden increase in sending volume
In the event that you send a normal 5,000 email for each month and all of a sudden begin to send 30,000 this will set off an alert which demonstrates potential spam movement.
3. Email List Hygiene
In the event that you don't routinely clean your lists from inactive or duplicate email addresses, you might be incidentally setting off the spam police. Having repetitive bounces or even well-concealed spam traps on your lists guarantees that you will be set apart for spam and show up on a blacklist. You need to clean up your e-mail list before hitting your target audiences, this can be done with the help of intelligent tools.
4. Virus / Malware
Your PC might be tainted with an infection or malware. You may not know about this but rather it will influence your active mail and, will make you show up on spam blacklists.
5 most common IP blacklisting services
If you would like to check one by one, here is a list of the 5 most common IP blacklisting services:
• Spamhaus – An exceedingly respectable blacklisting company which gives against anti-spam protection services in real-time.
• SpamCop – SpamCop Blocking List (SCBL) shows IP addresses which were accounted for straightforwardly as spam by SpamCop users.
• SURBL – An optional dimension scanner which works in collaboration with Spamhaus in recognizing progressively subtle unsolicited messages.
• Barracuda Reputation Block List – A total list of all DNSBL IP addresses which have been recognized as having sent SPAM.
• Invaluement – a paid membership service which recognizes and blocks SPAM which overlooks or escapes the standard strategies for detection utilized by ANTI-SPAM services.
Delisting: How to get off a blacklist?
Once you have fixed the issues on your end, go to the blacklist site and follow their IP address removal instructions. There are blacklists with a self-removal service and time-based removal service.
Self-Removal: It lets you take your IP address off the blacklist without much trouble but one thing you need to remember is that if the address gets listed again, it won’t be easy to get it removed the next time.
Time-Based Removal: It is a built-in, automatic process that removes lower-level listings (IP addresses that are light offenders) within a week or two. But if the IP address had sent spam more than once or did a high volume, the time period will be longer.
One needs to follow the rules and cooperate with the instructions and terms & conditions provided. Honesty and open statements play an important role in resolving the blacklist issues. If not, and the blacklisting is troublesome for you, consider contacting the list maintainer by phone and try to resolve the issue that way.
How to stay off Email Blacklists?
Two Ways to Stay Off Blacklists
Blacklists use spam traps and track senders as possible sources of spam. A spam trap looks like a real email address, but it doesn't belong to a real person and can't be used for any kind of communication. Since spam trap addresses can't opt-in to receive an email, the only way one could end up on your list is if you're not maintaining healthy lists, or you're not abiding by the rules of permission-based email marketing.
5 most common IP blacklisting services
If you would like to check one by one, here is a list of the 5 most common IP blacklisting services:
• Spamhaus – An exceedingly respectable blacklisting company which gives against anti-spam protection services in real-time.
• SpamCop – SpamCop Blocking List (SCBL) shows IP addresses which were accounted for straightforwardly as spam by SpamCop users.
• SURBL – An optional dimension scanner which works in collaboration with Spamhaus in recognizing progressively subtle unsolicited messages.
• Barracuda Reputation Block List – A total list of all DNSBL IP addresses which have been recognized as having sent SPAM.
• Invaluement – a paid membership service which recognizes and blocks SPAM which overlooks or escapes the standard strategies for detection utilized by ANTI-SPAM services.
Delisting: How to get off a blacklist?
Once you have fixed the issues on your end, go to the blacklist site and follow their IP address removal instructions. There are blacklists with a self-removal service and time-based removal service.
Self-Removal: It lets you take your IP address off the blacklist without much trouble but one thing you need to remember is that if the address gets listed again, it won’t be easy to get it removed the next time.
Time-Based Removal: It is a built-in, automatic process that removes lower-level listings (IP addresses that are light offenders) within a week or two. But if the IP address had sent spam more than once or did a high volume, the time period will be longer.
One needs to follow the rules and cooperate with the instructions and terms & conditions provided. Honesty and open statements play an important role in resolving the blacklist issues. If not, and the blacklisting is troublesome for you, consider contacting the list maintainer by phone and try to resolve the issue that way.
How to stay off Email Blacklists?
Two Ways to Stay Off Blacklists
Blacklists use spam traps and track senders as possible sources of spam. A spam trap looks like a real email address, but it doesn't belong to a real person and can't be used for any kind of communication. Since spam trap addresses can't opt-in to receive an email, the only way one could end up on your list is if you're not maintaining healthy lists, or you're not abiding by the rules of permission-based email marketing.
1. Use confirmed opt-in and opt-out features and avoid purchasing or rent recipient lists.
These lists are loaded up with various unpalatable things, much like a nutty delight. We're talking invalid addresses, immaculate spam traps that were scratched from a site, and old addresses that may now be a spam trap. Also, recipients on these lists have not finished a pick for your email messages, which thus will create higher complaint rates. High complaint rates feed into various blacklists that track user spam and abuse complaints, so it's ideal to avoid any bought list.
2. Keep your technical standards high:
• Set standards and IP checks to regulate how articles are e-mailed from your domain.
• Keep your e-mail server functioning efficiently. A recipient’s infected device can make you responsible for spreading a virus.
• Make sure that comments to a blog post about one of your articles don’t reflect back to your server.
The ultimate goal is avoiding your e-mail marketing campaign fall into undesirable blacklists. o escape this undesirable list, you should avoid emails in large quantities; with malicious, prejudiced content; and even with viruses or malicious software. Together with this, it is required to protect your brand from cyber crimes too via email authentication. Read on to know more.
• Keep your e-mail server functioning efficiently. A recipient’s infected device can make you responsible for spreading a virus.
• Make sure that comments to a blog post about one of your articles don’t reflect back to your server.
The ultimate goal is avoiding your e-mail marketing campaign fall into undesirable blacklists. o escape this undesirable list, you should avoid emails in large quantities; with malicious, prejudiced content; and even with viruses or malicious software. Together with this, it is required to protect your brand from cyber crimes too via email authentication. Read on to know more.
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