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Did you know that Google and Yahoo have put out new requirements for all companies that send bulk emails or newsletters? The new rules went into effect on February 01, 2024.
The changes that were put into place may sound new but they really aren’t. These companies are simply requiring other companies to adopt security measures that have been in place for a long time as many companies have failed to add these protections.
What protections are we talking about?
- Companies are now going to be forced to send from their branded company domains. They can no longer send from free email domains such as @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, etc.
- Companies now must setup a valid DMARC policy.
- They must authenticate their sending domain using either SPF or DKIM authentication (or both).
- Companies must make it extremely simple for people to unsubscribe from newsletters. To comply the unsubscribe needs to be basically a single click unsubscribe.
- The sender must maintain a SPAM rating below 0.1%. Meaning their emails are not flagged as SPAM very often.
You can read more about these requirements directly from Google and Yahoo here:
What is a branded domain?
A branded domain refers to a domain name (or URL) that includes a company’s or organization’s brand or trademark the domain or part of the domain. For example, TeCHS uses a play on our company tagline of “Your Digital Life Simplified” for our URL ezdigitallife.com. ezdigitallife.com is our branded domain. A branded domain is used for a company’s websites, email addresses, and other online assets to reinforce their brand identity and establish a consistent online presence.
What is a DMARC Policy?
DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. This policy specifies how a receiving email server should handle emails that claim to be from a particular domain but fail authentication checks. This policy helps prevent email spoofing and phishing attacks.
What is SPF authentication?
SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework. It helps prevent email spoofing by allowing domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of their domain
What is DKIM authentication?
DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail. It adds a unique cryptographic digital signature to email messages to verify the signature’s authenticity. DKIM helps ensure that the email content has not been tampered with during transit and verifies the sender’s identity.
What do these new rules mean for you?
These email protections will significantly reduce the amount of spam email we all receive. They all work together to verify the legitimacy of email senders and detect spoofed or fraudulent messages, better identify and filter out spam, reducing inbox clutter and improving overall email security.
