Kate Paterson
Original Poster
Apr 11, 2019

Why are my emails going to recipient spam? How can I stop this?

I send email from a me.com email address through Gmail. Recently a large number of my emails are not arriving at the recipient and when I contact them by phone to check, the email is in their spam folder. In some cases it has not arrived at all. These are people who are in my contacts list (and I'm in theirs) in some cases, and in others they are new recipients that are not expecting emails from me (and therefore cannot add me in advance to their contacts). I only ever send to one, or two, recipients at a time so not bulk emails.  It is happening when I send from Iphone gmail, Windows Easymail for Gmail, and Mac OS Gmail platforms. It even happens sometimes when I reply to an email I have in my Inbox. 
I have no way of knowing if my emails are being received which is obviously an untenable situation for work, and for home, email. 
Can anyone explain what is happening, and what I can do to stop it?
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Last edited Apr 12, 2019
All Replies (32)
jp88
Diamond Product Expert
Volunteer helper, and user, in Google forums. Not a Google employee.
Apr 11, 2019
If your domain is a G Suite/Google Apps account, the domain administrator usually has access to  24/7/365 support from Google - see this page.   Non G Suite users, or users of free consumer "@gmail.com" accounts, cannot be helped by using that link. 
 
G Suite accounts can also use https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/checkmx/, and the helpful links there.
 
Otherwise, if some, all, or most of your emails to Gmail accounts are being classified as spam at the Gmail end, or Google are blocking your domain, or Google give a warning to the recipient, or if in some cases your mail is delayed before reaching Google at the last hop, or if (again in some cases) your mail is delayed internally at Google, you will need to comply with the Bulk Sender's Guidelines  at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126?hl=en&vid=1-635789122382665739-3305764358  (Note:  this page is badly named, it applies to ALL domains sending to GMail and G Suite accounts.)
 
In particular, pay attention to:-
 
 
(these above links in blue are "clickable")
 
Changes to MX records may take up to 72 hours to filter through the Internet.
 
Also check your TLS  https://www.checktls.com/TestReceiver  Google require at least TLSv1.2
 
If the issue is with forwarded mail, you should read 
 
Another possibly helpful link https://glockapps.com/blog/remove-ip-address-gmail-blacklist/
 
If you are receiving a message "this message is not RFC 5322 compliant:", then you need to read, and comply with https://support.google.com/mail/?p=RfcMessageNonCompliant
 
If other Google users have marked your mail as Spam, Google will have learnt from this.  You need to get your mail marked as "non spam".
 
Please also check your emails (both body and signature) for spammy content e.g. lots of exclamation marks; "must read"; attention getting, large and/or gaudy coloured text; text the same colour as the background; tiny text; [almost] zero height images; links hidden under text, images or links with a different URL; etc.  All or any of these may mark you as a spammer by Google.
 
 
If your IP is marked as a Spam Hoster, you will also need to clean this up with your service provider.  Google maintain their own lists, but this posting certainly cannot help you.  Removal from a spam hosting list can take up to four weeks to filter through.  Even after that, Google may treat you account very cautiously, until proven as non spammer.
 
http://goo.gl/FQXdHx is helpful for bulk email senders and marketers. And this link https://www.unlocktheinbox.com/resources/emailauthentication/ can be very useful as well.
 
If your domain previously had a bad reputation, and the problems hopefully have now been corrected, Google may treat your mail with caution for some time, until your credentials are established to their satisfaction.
 
And, as a matter of interest https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1366858?hl=en helps recipients understand why mail is flagged as Spam by Gmail.  Also see https://www.whatcounts.com/2012/03/gmail-spam-warnings-and-their-meanings-for-email-marketers/
 
After doing all this, and the problems persist, you can use  https://support.google.com/mail/contact/msgdelivery All errors need to be corrected, before doing this.
 
mxtoolbox has some good paid services available to help with your email delivery.  www.mxtoolbox.com
 
Finally, as we can only give general advice (unless your domain is a G Suite account), you may need to seek further help, if necessary, from your domain hoster, or employ the services of an IT contractor.
 
Repeating - G Suite accounts generally (if qualified) have 24/7/365 support for the domain administrator - see this page.  Non G Suite users, nor users of free consumer "@gmail.com" accounts, will not be helped in this link.
 
 
Any 'phone numbers you find on the Internet, or posting here,  pretending to be Google support, are scammers. They cannot help, may hack you, and/or install ransomware.  https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/2952493?hl=en
 
jp88
Diamond Product Expert
Volunteer helper, and user, in Google forums. Not a Google employee.
May 20, 2019
Andrew
 
 is there anything else I should be looking at or doing???
 
Yes.
 
To avoid confusion, and to ensure that you are helped, please start your own unique thread, and describe the problem, clearly and concisely.  You will not be helped by posting in some other person's question.
 
If not a Gmail problem, you will need to ask elsewhere. Other Google help forums are at https://support.google.com/?hl=en
 
Google cannot help with third party apps or non Google devices.  If this applies to you, please ask the app developer, or the device manufacturer.
 
Thank you for your cooperation.
Cameron Stuart
Jun 3, 2019
Hi, I am having an issue with my email. I have a Gmail account and the emails I am getting from my business partners are going directly to the spam folder and not in the inbox. I have checked the settings no filters added. Kindly help. Thanks.
Last edited Jun 3, 2019
Mike W in Australia
Jun 5, 2019
Google sends its own security alerts to the spam folder. If it doesn't care to correctly classify its own urgent messages, then it will care not a jot for users' messages.
Anne H11.
Jul 8, 2019
Yes my important emails too are going into spam, as you can see my name includes a forbidden word, so my emails are also going into the spam folder thanks to google - or then there can be one person who desides to mark your email as a spam if you have for instance given them negative feedback for bad servives. So everything is just working like in high school, anyone can decide for google who is the bad guy instead of actually sending spam or other similar email from you email. I wish google would finally realise that not everything is about the english language in this world.

I am just stopping using the email now, I don't  have a company so I can do that. Totally had enough of this.
Mike Franklin 573
Jul 11, 2019
Security alerts from Capital One are being sent to Spam. I marked as "Not Spam" and set a filter to "Never Send to Spam". Works for an email or two and then reverts to sending to Spam. What can be done?
Tony Jewell
Jul 26, 2019
@Travis Cavanagh
Did the new TXT record in your domain help the situation?

Thanks,
TonyJ
Shane Walters
Aug 1, 2019
This issue is becoming a huge problem. After hours of testing yesterday, I found that if my email address is anywhere within the body of the message, Google treats it as spam. I had my email address in my signature and every Google recipient would have my emails in their spam. Including replies to the Google user's email. Once I remove it from my signature it went to their inbox. Problem after that is all replies have my email address either in the "to" or "from" sections which become part of the body of the message. I also tested this. I sent an email to gmail, one email i simply typed my email address in the body of the message and the other I left out. I didn't type anything else. The one with my email address went to spam and the other the inbox.
User 3686169752744297962
Aug 1, 2019
This is happening to me now too. Even when I send emails within my G Suite (others with the same @.... as me). Reading through this, it doesn't sound like there is a fix for it.
jp88
Diamond Product Expert
Volunteer helper, and user, in Google forums. Not a Google employee.
Aug 1, 2019
Kate Paterson
 
You might like to ask about this in the G Suite Community  https://support.google.com/a/community/?  (and also bookmark that link if needed again)
 
Although the word "Administrator" features there, all can  post there.  However, if you are not the Administrator, Google may advise that you ask the domain Administrator for assistance.
 
Scroll to the bottom of the page,  if the "Describe Your Issue" box doesn't help.
 
(Are you aware of 24/7/365 telephone support available to the domain administrator of qualified G Suite accounts, if needed? - see https://support.google.com/a/table/3247295?hl=en)

 
User 14465845557704872501
Aug 2, 2019
Did anyone having issue figure it out? my own email sent to my self from my Kyocera printer is doing the same thing. Sending to junk/spam never had an issue and never made any changes
Shane Walters
Aug 2, 2019
I found this issue occurred anytime my domain was included in the body of the message. So if my email address was in the thread it obviously contained my domain name. I then found that there were a couple links and/or images that were provided on my website via http and not https. This was causing Google to treat my website as "insecure". Google checks the website reputation of any domain that might be in an email. If the domain/website is insecure then it treats the email as spam. I fixed my website this morning but heard it takes a little time for the "reputation" to change. This whole situation, while I can understand a bit, is overkill. I can see if it I had my website www.whatever.com included in the email but simply having my email address in the body and treating it as spam is too much.
Tara Akhound Sadegh
Aug 7, 2019
I am having the same issue with gmail. My emails get blocked or get marked as spam when my email address is in the body of the mail or included in the text of an attachment. 
I do not have a website which could cause this issue. Has anyone else found a solution?
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