Billions of people use emails for both personal and professional communication. However, getting too much spam in the inbox is something many people are familiar with. To tackle this problem, Google and Yahoo, two of the largest and most popular email services, announced email changes that will gradually come into effect in 2024.
Now, it comes as no surprise to anyone because both Google and Yahoo have been working consistently over the years to improve and enhance the security features of their email services. Their goal has been to create a safe environment for users so that less spam reaches their inboxes.
In October 2023, they both announced more protection changes, meaning there are now new requirements that affect mainly large senders (over 5000 emails sent in one day). In this article, we will talk about the most important Google & Yahoo email changes that are happening in the first quarter of 2024 and how to adjust to them.
Key Google & Yahoo email changes
Both Gmail & Yahoo have the same key requirements for bulk senders:
- Authenticate their email: Senders must authenticate their sender identities using standard protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
- Enable one-click unsubscribe: The current norm is a one-click unsubscribe. Hence, senders must adopt this practice if they haven’t already.
- Only send emails their users want: Similar to the discomfort of a messy room, nobody appreciates a cluttered inbox filled with spam. Therefore, to ensure their emails reach recipients, senders should keep the spam rate below 0.3%.
However, that’s not all. Google and Yahoo email changes will affect every sender, not only large senders.
Google & Yahoo email changes affecting every sender
Yahoo requirements for all senders
Google requirements for all senders
- Authenticate your mail
- Ensure email authentication with SPF or DKIM.
- Keep spam complaint rates low
- Keep spam below 0.3%.
- Have valid forward and reverse DNS records for sending IPs.
- Adhere to RFC 5322
- Use TLS for secure email transmission
- Avoid impersonating Gmail From: headers
- If forwarding emails regularly, add ARC headers and List-id: header for mailing lists
Google & Yahoo email changes affecting ONLY large senders
Yahoo requirements for large senders
All requirements that apply to all senders, plus:
- Publish a DMARC policy.
- Enable easy unsubscribe with a working list-unsubscribe header.
- Prefer the Post method; mail-to: is also acceptable.
- Include a clear unsubscribe link in the email body.
- Process unsubscribes within 2 days.
Check out detailed best practices for sending emails with Yahoo.
Google requirements for large senders
All requirements that apply to all senders, plus:
- Establish DMARC email authentication for your domain.
- For direct emails, ensure the sender’s From: domain aligns with SPF or DKIM.
- For marketing and subscribed messages, provide a one-click unsubscribe and a visible unsubscribe link in the message body.
- You must use list-unsubscribe email headers to be compliant.
To see detailed email sender guidelines, visit Google’s official page.
How to adhere to the new Google & Yahoo requirements
Properly authenticate your mail
Email authentication is king in 2024. After all, it ensures your emails are delivered by confirming they’re genuine, preventing harmful activities like phishing or spam.
To authenticate your mail, use the following strategies:
1. Use SPF (Sender Policy Framework):
- SPF helps prevent email spoofing by specifying which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
- To set up SPF, add a DNS TXT record that lists the authorized servers for your domain.
2. Implement DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail):
- DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing recipients to verify that the message hasn’t been tampered with during transit.
- First, generate DKIM keys. Secondly, add a DNS TXT record with the public key. Lastly, configure your email server to sign outgoing emails.
3. Set up DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance):
- DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM, providing a policy framework for email authentication.
- Publish a DMARC policy in your DNS records, indicating how you want email receivers to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks.
- You can initially set DMARC to “none”.
Make it easy to unsubscribe
It has been a standard practice to include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email for some years. However, this update is about making it even simpler.
Both Gmail and Yahoo insist on a simple, one-click unsubscribe process for large email senders. This means users won’t have to confirm their email or adjust subscription preferences anymore. According to Google, senders must act on unsubscribe requests within two days and include list-unsubscribe email headers in all promotional and marketing emails, following RFC 8058 guidelines. Please note that the unsubscribe link in the message doesn’t have to be one-click. This change aims to make unsubscribing easier for users and aligns with industry email standards.
Keep a close eye on spam rates
Both companies agreed that the acceptable limit for emails classified as spam should not exceed 0.3%. In fact, according to Google, it should ideally be below 0.1%! In other words, if you send 1,000 emails, no more than 3 of them should be marked as spam to stay below this threshold. This spam score is calculated daily.
If you are an email sender or marketer, Yahoo offers a bulk sender form for feedback loop registration. Through this feedback loop, you can receive data on spam complaints from Yahoo Mail users. On the other hand, to review how well your emails are performing in Gmail, you need to use Postmaster Tools.
All in all, monitoring spam rates is important. But you can also implement preventive strategies like regularly cleaning your email list and avoiding spam trigger words.
What happens if I don’t implement the Google & Yahoo email changes?
Not following Gmail and Yahoo’s new rules may lead to your emails being marked as spam or blocked, resulting in them not being delivered (bounce back from the Mailer Daemon). Therefore, it’s important to stick to the new rules and make the changes ASAP if you haven’t already.
Final thoughts
The email game is always changing. As senders, we need to adapt to these changes and make sure we send messages that recipients truly want. Despite stricter rules, these changes are ultimately good for both senders and recipients.
If you need help with these changes, we at DigitalMe have experts ready to guide you to ensure your messages won’t land in spam folders.
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Ross Jenkins
Ross Jenkins is the founder of DigitalME and is an ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant. He is ranked #1 on UpWork for his proficiency in digital marketing. DigitalME offers targeted digital solutions and is perfect for anyone who wants to increase leads, sales, and productivity through automation.