Email

Why are my emails landing in spam, and how do I fix it?

Almost always SPF/DKIM/DMARC misconfiguration. We set these up correctly when your DNS is with us; if mail still bounces, check that your From-address domain matches the authenticated domain.

The three records that matter

Email deliverability is mostly determined by three DNS records on your sending domain:

  • SPF — TXT record listing IPs allowed to send mail for your domain.
  • DKIM — TXT record with a public key; our mail servers sign each message with the matching private key.
  • DMARC — TXT record telling receivers what to do when SPF/DKIM fail.

If even one is missing or wrong, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo will quietly route your mail to spam — especially for newer or low-volume domains.

What we set up by default

If your DNS is hosted with us and you bought our email service, we automatically publish:

  • SPF: v=spf1 include:_spf.photonspark.com -all (or custom if you also send through other providers).
  • DKIM: a 2048-bit key with selector psk._domainkey.
  • DMARC: v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain;.

If your DNS is hosted elsewhere, we send you the exact records to copy in. Deliverability problems almost always start there.

Diagnosing

  1. Send a test mail to check-auth@verifier.port25.com and read the auto-reply.
  2. Use mail-tester.com for a deliverability score.
  3. Sign up for Google Postmaster Tools if you send to Gmail at any volume.

Common mistakes

  • Wrong sending domain. DKIM is on example.com but your From is noreply@mail.example.com — different domains.
  • Free domains. You cannot send from gmail.com / yahoo.com through us. You need your own domain.
  • Old reputation. New domains start with zero reputation. Send small volumes for 2–3 weeks before ramping.
  • Bulk mail through transactional service. Our email is for transactional / personal. For newsletters, use Postmark, Mailgun, or Resend — we set up the DNS.

If all three records are correct and Gmail still spams you, open a ticket with: the sending and recipient address, a sample message ID, and a screenshot of the spam folder.