Achieving Compliance: Meeting Google and Yahoo's Email Sender Requirements in 2024

From February 2024 onwards, Google and Yahoo are making it necessary for email senders to use email authentication, and there are also some important policy changes related to consent and engagement. If senders don't follow these rules, their emails might be delayed, blocked, or marked as spam. Even though this might feel like a sudden change, these requirements have actually been considered the best way to make sure emails get delivered properly for quite some time.

Prepare Your Account:

Follow our checklist to make sure you meet the new sender requirements set by both Google and Yahoo.

Elevate Your Brand with a Branded Sending Domain

Enhance control over your sender reputation and improve inbox branding by setting up a branded sending domain. Say goodbye to the "sent via msgsndr.com" disclaimer and embrace better deliverability practices. Starting in February, this becomes a must for bulk senders reaching out to Google and Yahoo recipients.

Keep in mind that after enabling your branded sending domain, a gradual warm-up of your sending infrastructure may be necessary over the next 2 – 4 weeks.

Need assistance? Check out our guide on setting up a branded sending domain.

Example of what a Branded sending domain looks like to Gmail users

Establish DMARC Email Authentication for Your Sending Domain

What is DMARC? DMARC, short for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, is a standard that enhances SPF and DKIM. It communicates a policy to mailbox providers, guiding them on how to handle emails failing SPF, DKIM, or both, claiming to be from your domain (potentially spoofed).

What should you do? If you lack a DMARC record, add one to your DNS. To check, use Dmarcian for free.

Implementation Steps:

Visit your DNS hosting provider and create a TXT DNS record.

Choose TXT as the record type.

Set the host value as 'DMARC.' Adjust if needed, ensuring it includes your domain (e.g., 'dmarc.domain.com').

Craft your DMARC record and add it to the DNS TXT value. A basic DMARC record looks like: 'v=DMARC1; p=none;'.

Save/submit and verify the correct addition of your DMARC record in DNS.

Each DMARC record must define a policy—none, quarantine, or reject. While Gmail's requirement is p=none, for enhanced security, opt for DMARC at enforcement, p=reject, or p=quarantine. However, this demands extra effort to ensure it includes all third parties sending on your domain's behalf. Incorrect publication might impact mail delivery. Collaborate with technical experts to format your DMARC correctly for optimal protection.

Successful DMARC Email Authentication in Gmail:View the original email and check the report

Ensure Brand Consistency

Align your "from" address with your branded domain for a cohesive and recognizable email identity.

To align with DMARC standards, your "from" address domain must match the root domain of your branded sending domain. For example, if your branded sending domain is "lc.msgsndr.com," the corresponding root domain is "msgsndr.com." Thus, using "[email protected]" as your "from" address maintains alignment with the root domain.

Avoid pretending to be Gmail in the "From" headers of your emails

Why does it matter?

Gmail and Yahoo is getting stricter with a DMARC policy called 'quarantine.' If you try to act like you're sending from Gmail or Yahoo, it could harm how your emails get delivered.

What's the solution?

Keep it simple: just don't pretend to be Gmail or Yahoo in the "From" part of your emails. To put it briefly, don't send emails claiming to be from '[email protected]' or '[email protected]'.

Make it easy to Unsubscribe

Now, it's important for senders to make it really easy