Spam Blacklist Check option is there to check the reputation of the domain
| SUMMARY: Boosting your email reputation – one of the most important factors in making sure your messages make it to inboxes – is often overlooked when trying to improve deliverability. A first step is to see how you score. Here are three no-cost online scoring services to help you check up on your email reputation. And running a check is relatively easy to do. |
Boosting the reputation of your email can improve deliverability. But reputation is not the first place marketers usually look to make sure messages reach inboxes. In fact, less than one out of four marketers (23%) surveyed for MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide reported using third-party accreditation and reputation services to improve deliverability.
A sender's email reputation is one of the most important ways ISPs and spam filters assess your messages to decide whether to block them or let them through. The good news is that it’s relatively easy to check up on your email reputation.
Your email service provider likely provides a reputation-monitoring service. Or, you may use a paid, third-party reputation monitoring service. If you don’t use either of those services, however, there are free online tools that can give you a snapshot of your reputation score – and point out problem areas you can address to improve your standing.
Checking additional scoring sites is a good practice as well. Every service measures reputation in a different way. Monitoring a range of sources could help you spot problems that your service might miss.
Here are three no-cost reputation-scoring services you might try. We describe the significant components of their reputation report, along with their scoring methodology.
Common components of a reputation score
Each reputation scoring service uses its own data sources, criteria and algorithms to determine reputation. But there are several common factors that appear within these different scoring methodologies. Here are some of the most important:
o Message volume
Message volume, by itself, isn’t a major influence on reputation. But reputation scoring services judge the number of spam reports or deliverability problems associated with your domain based on message volume. Sudden spikes in message volume may cause your message to be interpreted as a spam blast and hurt your reputation.
o Delivery rates
Message acceptance and bounce rates from your domain are compared to delivery statistics for other senders. Lower acceptance rates can lower your reputation.
o Blacklist status
Your emails can be filtered or blocked if your domain is included on third-party lists of suspected spammers. Naturally, appearing on several blacklists can hurt your reputation.
o Spam
Monitoring services measure incidences of spam associated with your domain in several ways, such as consumer spam reports and spam-trap hits. Your reported or observed spam totals typically are assessed in relation to your overall message volume.
Three free online reputation monitoring services
1. IronPort Sender base
http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queries/rep_lookup
Data source: 100,000 organizations representing 25% of global email traffic
Key report contents:
- WHOIS information (who owns domain name)
- Email magnitude, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 representing 100% of the world’s email volume
- Daily and monthly volume statistics, with volume change vs. previous month
- Date of first message sent from domain – new domain sending at high volume is considered more likely to be sending spam.
- IP addresses used to send mail
- Forward and reverse DNS match – a non-matching forward and reverse DNS can get your email labeled as spam.
- Blacklist status
Scoring system:
- Good = “Little or no threat activity has been observed from your IP address or domain. Your email or Web traffic is not likely to be filtered or blocked.”
- Neutral = “Your IP address or domain is within acceptable parameters. However, your email or Web traffic may still be filtered or blocked.”
- Poor = “A problematic level of threat activity has been observed from your IP address or domain. Your email or Web traffic is likely to be filtered or blocked.”
2. Return Path’s SenderScore
https://www.senderscore.org
Data source: 60 million email addresses within a network of ISPs, spam filtering and security companies.
Key Report Contents:
- Monthly email volume
- Deliverability, reported as a percentage of email messages being accepted within the SenderScore network
- Blacklist status
- IP addresses used to send mail, and authentication services used
- Proprietary reputation measures, with individual scores:
o Complaints
o Volume
o External reputation (how your domain’s status on whitelists and blacklists compares to other domains)
o Unknown users (hard bounces)
o Spam trap hits
o Last spam trap date
Scoring System:
- Numerical score on 0-100 range, with 100 being the best. All scores are measured against other IP addresses and calculated on a rolling 30-day average.
3. SendMail’s IP Reputation
http://sendmail.com/sm/resources/tools/ip_reputation/
Data Source: Network representing 95% of all Web traffic.
Key report contents:
- WHOIS information
- IP Reputation Class: a compiled assessment of all measured classifications
- Average daily message volume from last 30 days on a 0-10 scale
- Weighted risk level based on a range of variables, measured on a 0-10 scale
- Spam ratio, measured by observed spam divided by total message volume over the last 30 days
- Valid bulk ratio, measured by the total valid bulk volume divided by total message volume over the last 30 days
Scoring System:
- Risk level represented visually on colored, sliding scale from red (high risk) through yellow (medium risk) to green (low risk)
A sender's email reputation is one of the most important ways ISPs and spam filters assess your messages to decide whether to block them or let them through. The good news is that it’s relatively easy to check up on your email reputation.
Your email service provider likely provides a reputation-monitoring service. Or, you may use a paid, third-party reputation monitoring service. If you don’t use either of those services, however, there are free online tools that can give you a snapshot of your reputation score – and point out problem areas you can address to improve your standing.
Checking additional scoring sites is a good practice as well. Every service measures reputation in a different way. Monitoring a range of sources could help you spot problems that your service might miss.
Here are three no-cost reputation-scoring services you might try. We describe the significant components of their reputation report, along with their scoring methodology.
Common components of a reputation score
Each reputation scoring service uses its own data sources, criteria and algorithms to determine reputation. But there are several common factors that appear within these different scoring methodologies. Here are some of the most important:
o Message volume
Message volume, by itself, isn’t a major influence on reputation. But reputation scoring services judge the number of spam reports or deliverability problems associated with your domain based on message volume. Sudden spikes in message volume may cause your message to be interpreted as a spam blast and hurt your reputation.
o Delivery rates
Message acceptance and bounce rates from your domain are compared to delivery statistics for other senders. Lower acceptance rates can lower your reputation.
o Blacklist status
Your emails can be filtered or blocked if your domain is included on third-party lists of suspected spammers. Naturally, appearing on several blacklists can hurt your reputation.
o Spam
Monitoring services measure incidences of spam associated with your domain in several ways, such as consumer spam reports and spam-trap hits. Your reported or observed spam totals typically are assessed in relation to your overall message volume.
Three free online reputation monitoring services
1. IronPort Sender base
http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queries/rep_lookup
Data source: 100,000 organizations representing 25% of global email traffic
Key report contents:
- WHOIS information (who owns domain name)
- Email magnitude, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 representing 100% of the world’s email volume
- Daily and monthly volume statistics, with volume change vs. previous month
- Date of first message sent from domain – new domain sending at high volume is considered more likely to be sending spam.
- IP addresses used to send mail
- Forward and reverse DNS match – a non-matching forward and reverse DNS can get your email labeled as spam.
- Blacklist status
Scoring system:
- Good = “Little or no threat activity has been observed from your IP address or domain. Your email or Web traffic is not likely to be filtered or blocked.”
- Neutral = “Your IP address or domain is within acceptable parameters. However, your email or Web traffic may still be filtered or blocked.”
- Poor = “A problematic level of threat activity has been observed from your IP address or domain. Your email or Web traffic is likely to be filtered or blocked.”
2. Return Path’s SenderScore
https://www.senderscore.org
Data source: 60 million email addresses within a network of ISPs, spam filtering and security companies.
Key Report Contents:
- Monthly email volume
- Deliverability, reported as a percentage of email messages being accepted within the SenderScore network
- Blacklist status
- IP addresses used to send mail, and authentication services used
- Proprietary reputation measures, with individual scores:
o Complaints
o Volume
o External reputation (how your domain’s status on whitelists and blacklists compares to other domains)
o Unknown users (hard bounces)
o Spam trap hits
o Last spam trap date
Scoring System:
- Numerical score on 0-100 range, with 100 being the best. All scores are measured against other IP addresses and calculated on a rolling 30-day average.
3. SendMail’s IP Reputation
http://sendmail.com/sm/resources/tools/ip_reputation/
Data Source: Network representing 95% of all Web traffic.
Key report contents:
- WHOIS information
- IP Reputation Class: a compiled assessment of all measured classifications
- Average daily message volume from last 30 days on a 0-10 scale
- Weighted risk level based on a range of variables, measured on a 0-10 scale
- Spam ratio, measured by observed spam divided by total message volume over the last 30 days
- Valid bulk ratio, measured by the total valid bulk volume divided by total message volume over the last 30 days
Scoring System:
- Risk level represented visually on colored, sliding scale from red (high risk) through yellow (medium risk) to green (low risk)
How to Get Removed from an E-Mail Blacklist
As a legitimate e-mail marketer, you may do all the right things to avoid being put on a blacklist, yet find your e-mails blocked from time to time. Sometimes, you make an innocent mistake, or your security is compromised, or there’s a problem with your Web-hosting or IP service. No matter how you get on a blacklist, your first priority is to contact the list holder and find out how to restore your e-mail privileges.
Getting off a blacklist requires that you know you’re on one, so be sure to monitor the status of your IP. Some of the most active blacklist holders to monitor include:
- CBL (Composite Blocking List)
- NJABL.org (Not Just Another Bogus List)
- SORBS (Spam and Open Relay Blocking System)
To get off some lists, you don’t need to do anything; for others, you need to make some changes and prove that you’ve made those changes. The procedures are as varied as the lists themselves:
- Your IP may automatically drop off the blacklist, or timeout, after a specific length of time, which may be a couple of weeks.
- You submit a form on the list-holder’s website.
- You make adjustment to your list management practices to tighten security and make it hard for spammers to use your server, then apply to be removed from the blacklist.
- Change your ISP. If the dynamic IP addresses your ISP assigns you are compromised, changing your provider may be the most efficient way to get off and stay off blacklists.
When approaching an entity that’s placed you on their blacklist, start with the assumption that something you did caused your domain to be added. A belligerent, take-me-off-now attitude can land you on a permanent blacklist with no chance of getting off it.
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