Business Email Going to Spam? SPF, DKIM and Sending Reputation Checks

Mail landing in spam can involve domain authentication, sending reputation, message content or recipient policies. SPF and DKIM matter, but adding records without knowing all sending services can make delivery worse. Start with an actual message and its headers.

Identify affected messages

Check whether all recipients report spam placement or only one provider or mailbox. Compare a normal customer email with a transactional website notification. Record the send time, sender domain and platform. One personal test does not prove a global reputation problem.

Review SPF authorisation

Look up the SPF TXT record and list systems authorised to send as the domain. Multiple separate SPF records at the same name can cause evaluation trouble. Remove retired services only after verifying they no longer send legitimate mail. SPF validates the envelope domain and may not align with the visible From address by itself.

Check DKIM and DMARC

Confirm that each sending service signs with the intended DKIM domain. DMARC evaluates alignment and applies a published policy; it is not a magic delivery switch. Review authentication results in actual headers and provider settings. Avoid a strict reject policy before legitimate sending streams are accounted for.

Look beyond DNS

Shared IP reputation, compromised accounts, sudden volume and recipient engagement can influence filtering. Check for unexpected sending activity and security alerts. Keep list hygiene and consent records in order. Do not buy addresses or send large repeated test batches to diagnose the issue.

Retest by sending source

Send controlled messages through each legitimate platform and inspect headers at several recipient services. Document changes and observe consistent results. If one service fails, fix that service rather than rewriting the entire domain policy. Include the website’s form notifications in the test.

Related: business email support and Microsoft 365 authentication guide.