New requirements from GMail and Yahoo! Mail mark change in how the industry views email authentication and best practices. What was once a set of recommendations is now becoming an enforceable set of requirements.
Prior to February 2024, Email authentication was seen simply as a recommended set of best practices to prevent abuse.
New announcements from Gmail and Yahoo! Mail shift the narrative of recommendations to one of enforcement. If you do not adhere to these practices, emails from your domain will end up in the Spam folder.
New Sending Requirements for Gmail & Yahoo Mail!
GMail states, “Important: Starting February 2024, Gmail will require the following for senders who send 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail accounts: Authenticate outgoing email, avoid sending unwanted or unsolicited email, and make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. Learn more about requirements for sending 5,000 or more emails per day.”
Yahoo! Mail states, “Note: Beginning in February 2024, enforcement of the following sending standards will take effect. Ensure you meet these requirements in order to avoid a negative impact to the delivery of your mail at Yahoo domains. Enforcement will be gradually rolled out, as we monitor compliance through the first half of the year. The requirements are subject to change, so please monitor our blog and this page for updates.”
Requirements for All Senders
The following requirements apply for ALL senders even if you are sending under less than 5,000 emails to GMail or Yahoo! Mail boxes per day.
Additional Requirements for Senders with 5k + Daily Emails
Any domain that registers over 5,000 messages in one day to Gmail or Yahoo! mail inboxes across all emailing methods will need to meet the Additional Requirements for Senders.
- DMARC Policy
- One Click Unsubscribe
Timeline
These new requirements from Gmail and Yahoo! Mail must be met by February 2024 for email to be delivered as expected to their subscribers.
If a sender does not meet the requirements by February 2024, they will start to see a temporary error occurring in a small percentage of their non-compliant emails to Gmail recipients. In April 2024, a small % of the email will be rejected and that percentage will increase over time.
Resources
If you need help ensuring that your emails don’t go to Spam, reach out to CloudContactAI.
- Email Deliverability – What’s My Score?
- DKIM Explained
- DMARC Explained
- SPF Explained
- GMail Sender Guidelines
- Yahoo Sender Guidelines
