Could My Domain Be Blacklisted?

What is Blacklisting

In Internet terminology, a generic name for a list of e-mail addresses or IP addresses that are originating with known spammers. Individuals and enterprises can use blacklists to filter out unwanted e-mails, as most e-mail applications today have filtering capabilities.

Network administrators and users alike employ blacklists to block entities who would be likely to cause problems. The problem entities could be malware networks, spammers, hackers, DoS (denial of service) attackers or abusive site or forum users, among a plethora of other possibilities. Application blacklisting prevents the execution of undesirable programs, which include applications that are known to contain security threats or vulnerabilities and those that are deemed inappropriate for a given business environment. Hackers and IT security researchers sometimes use blacklists differently, seeking interaction with blacklisted entities to provide information.

How does Blacklist Works

 To help you understand how a blacklist works. If the incoming mail fails to satisfy criteria for legitimate mail, the IP can be included on blacklist. Some ISPs opt to use this data to inform their filtering decisions and delivery of the email messages sent over that Internet Protocol (IP).


How to Find Out if You’re on a Blacklist?

Having issues with your email or getting people tell you they can't get to your website and you know it is available? You could be blacklisted.   Have you been sending out a lot of mail, especially if you send bulk emails where there more than 25 recipients can cause you to get spammed by a receiver’s mail client or security software.  Or sometime when you use a hosting company the previous company that had the IP your domain was assigned got added to a blacklist.

I suggest you check your domain or IP with one or all of these companies.  But before you start know your IP
http://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
http://www.blacklistalert.org/
https://www.ultratools.com/tools/spamDBLookup



What is my IP & how do I Find my Domain's IP?

Every domain get assigned to an IP, most people don’t remember numbers like to do names.  So, domain name was introduced as a human-friendly equivalent of a IP address.   Most of the spam blockers or blacklist use IP's when the store a item to their list.  Here are a couple of sites you can look up your IP:

https://www.ultratools.com/tools/ipWhoisLookup
Offers "WHOIS IP Lookup Tool".  he IPWHOIS Lookup tool displays as much information as possible for a given IP address, sourced from the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) to which the address belongs.

http://ipinfo.info/html/ip_checker.php
This is one of the most versatile tools to find out the owner and internet provider of any website, domain or IP address. Locating IP addresses is useful for locating the origin of unwanted emails or the source of virus and port attacks.

 How to Get Off a Blacklist

High spam complaint rates are one of the main reasons that your IP ends up on a blacklist. So, it’s imperative that once you discover that you’re on one, that you take steps to get your IP removed from the list. By visiting each of these DNS-based Blackhole List  (DNSBL) sites, you can enter your IP to check your list status, and then obtain instructions on how to be removed. The key here is to be proactive &and work with each list you may be on.

How to Stay Off a Blacklist

Honestly the best practices is to help ensure that you only send wanted email and stay off of blacklists all together.  Your reputation is the key to proper email deliverability. By closely monitoring your complaint rates, you can prevent delivery failures before they happen. Check your stats with each campaign deployment. Test, test & test all new email campaigns.

I suggest you use email verification every time you update your list. Running email verification isn’t something that you should do only in a blacklist crisis, but a step you should take every time you send an email campaign.   Maybe use a company like Kickbox, Email verification service.  https://kickbox.io/


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