Gmail and Yahoo sender guideline updates in 2024

Both Gmail and Yahoo have updated their email sender guidelines and will be enforcing these requirements from February 2024 onwards. Here is an overview of the requirements and how Blueshift is helping you comply with them.

Gmail

Starting February 1, 2024, Gmail will have new requirements for all senders and bulk senders who send 5,000 or more messages daily to Gmail accounts. The following is an overview of the requirements for all senders and those considered bulk senders.

All Senders

Here are the requirements specified by Gmail for all senders:

• Set up SPF or DKIM email authentication for your domain.
• Ensure that sending domains or IPs have valid forward and reverse DNS records, also called PTR records.
• Use a TLS connection for transmitting email.
• Keep spam rates reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid reaching a spam rate of 0.30% or higher.
• Format messages according to the Internet Message Format standard (RFC 5322).
• Don’t impersonate Gmail From: headers. Gmail will begin using a DMARC quarantine enforcement policy, and impersonating Gmail From: headers might impact your email delivery.
• If you regularly forward email, including using mailing lists or inbound gateways, add ARC headers to outgoing email. ARC headers indicate the message was forwarded and identify you as the forwarder. Mailing list senders should also add a List-id: header, which specifies the mailing list, to outgoing messages.

Bulk Senders

Along with the requirements specified for all senders, bulk senders must comply with the following additional requirements.

• Set up DMARC email authentication for your sending domain. Your DMARC enforcement policy can be set to none.
• For direct mail, the domain in the sender's From: header must be aligned with either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain. This is required to pass DMARC alignment.
• Marketing messages and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe, and include a visible unsubscribe link in the message body.

For more information, see Gmail Email Sender Guidelines and New Gmail Requirements Blog.

Yahoo

Starting February 2024, Yahoo will enforce the following sending standards for all senders and bulk senders. Yahoo has not explicitly defined a daily sending limit to be considered a bulk sender. However, Yahoo has stated that if they detect the same email content is going to a large number of email addresses, you will be viewed as a bulk sender. This status is indefinite and won’t change if future sending volumes decline. The following is an overview of the requirements for all senders and those considered as bulk senders.

All Senders

Here are the requirements specified by Yahoo for all senders.

• Authenticate your mail.
  • Implement SPF or DKIM at a minimum.
• Keep spam complaint rates low.
  • Keep your spam rate below 0.3%.
    Note: Spam rate is calculated in our system based on mail delivered to the inbox - keep this in mind when referencing CFL data and calculating the rate in your own system.
• Have a valid forward and reverse DNS record for your sending IPs.
• Comply with RFCs 5321 and 5322.

Bulk Senders

Along with the requirements specified for all senders, bulk senders must comply with the following additional requirements.

• Authenticate your mail.
  • Implement both SPF and DKIM
• Publish a valid DMARC policy with at least p=none - DMARC must pass.
  • Including a “rua” tag, which is properly set up to receive reports, is strongly recommended to allow monitoring during initial setup.
  • Relaxed alignment is acceptable.
  • Ensure the domain in the From: header is aligned with either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain. This is required for DMARC alignment.
• Support easy unsubscribe.
  • Implement a functioning list-unsubscribe header, which supports one-click unsubscribe for marketing and subscribed messages.
    • The Post (RFC 8058) method is highly recommended.
    • The mail-to: method is acceptable.
  • Have a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the email body - this may direct to a preference page.
  • Honor unsubscribes within 2 days.

For more information, see Yahoo Sender Guidelines and New Yahoo Requirements Blog.

What do these changes mean for you?

It is important to note that the published timelines for when Google and Yahoo will be enforcing these requirements have adjusted through the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024. It is likely that both ISPs will start rolling out enforcement in February 2024 and continue through the coming months.

Authentication

All Blueshift senders undergo the setup for SPF/DKIM and are already compliant with the base authentication requirements for both Gmail and Yahoo. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure DNS that has been supplied remains in place while in use with Blueshift.

DMARC, an added security layer that works in conjunction with SPF and DKIM, is now also required. A monitoring mode policy (p=none) is needed to meet the minimum requirements. It is highly recommended to have a reporting tag in place to monitor DMARC properly but it is not an explicit requirement. It is also advised to gradually move into a stricter DMARC policy (p=quarantine or p=reject).

Spam Complaint Rates

It is always ideal to keep spam rates as minimal as possible. The published thresholds are similar between Gmail and Yahoo, with recommendations below 0.3%. However, Gmail does specify that it would be ideal to be below 0.1%. It is currently undefined by both ISPs if IP/domain reputation will be impacted through a designated number of campaigns that exceed this threshold or if it is a daily or weekly average.

Since Google does not have a traditional feedback loop, reviewing the Spam Rate tab in Google Postmaster Tools regularly is advised to ensure your organization is adhering to these thresholds. On the other hand, for Yahoo, the spam complaint data can be found within your account to monitor rates there. Yahoo does not have a public-facing reputation system like Google Postmaster Tools so monitoring live engagement metrics such as opens, clicks, and bounces is key to understanding current reputation standing.

One-click List-Unsubscribe

To adhere to the new Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements, Blueshift is implementing updates to the List-Unsubscribe header, ensuring customer compliance. These requirements mandate that all bulk senders facilitate an effortless unsubscribe process through the List-Unsubscribe header, allowing recipients to unsubscribe with a single click. This allows the customer to have a quick and simple opt-out that does not require them to leave their Gmail inbox.

For more information, see List-Unsubscribe header in emails.