As you’ve likely heard, Google rolled out its December Spam Update last month, and it’s already making waves.

This update primarily focuses on websites that violate Google’s spam policies, but here’s the truth - your domain’s health can also affect your email sender reputation.

Let’s break it down.

What’s in the December Spam Update?

Google’s AI-powered SpamBrain is now even better at identifying spammy practices, such as:

• Doorway Pages: Sites designed solely to funnel traffic without providing value.
• Keyword Stuffing: Overloading pages with keywords to manipulate rankings.
• Link Schemes: Buying or exchanging links purely for SEO gain.
• Hacked Content: Compromised websites used to inject spammy links or pages.

Websites violating these rules could see lower search rankings—or even removal from Google’s search results entirely.

Why This Affects Your Emails

Google’s SpamBrain doesn’t just stop at websites.

If you’re using a domain-based email for your email marketing, your email reputation is tied to the same domain as your website.

If your domain is flagged for these issues:

• Your emails might start landing in spam folders
• Your sender reputation could take a major hit, reducing deliverability
• Your domain could end up on a blocklist

Recovering your domain health can take months.

How to Protect Your Email Deliverability

The good news?

You can take proactive steps to safeguard your domain’s reputation and keep your emails landing in inboxes.

Here’s how:

1. Audit Your Domain Health: Make sure your website is free of doorway pages, hidden text, or spammy links
2. Authenticate Your Emails: Ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are correctly set up
3. Monitor Engagement: Low open rates can signal issues to Gmail and other providers
4. Review DMARC Reports: Regularly (weekly) review your DMARC reports to ensure there are no issues.

💡 Pro Tip: Regularly check your domain’s reputation with tools like Google’s Search Console or a deliverability platform to catch problems early.

Staying proactive is key.

Here’s to keeping your domain healthy and your emails landing in the inbox!

To your email success,

Karen

P.S. Got questions about your email list or domain health? Hit reply—I’d love to help!