[Latest Update] Email Security Updates for 2024 to Prevent Yahoo and Gmail Spam 

Hailing all email senders — you have only about 2 weeks left to implement Gmail and Yahoo security protocols.

[LATEST UPDATE] By June 1, 2024, all marketers and promotional email senders must implement a one-click unsubscribe in all commercial and promotional emails. This does not include transactional emails such as password reset messages, reservation confirmations, and form submission confirmations. Find more details in Gmail’s rulebook.

Here’s what else to do to be aligned with Gmail’s latest anti-spam policies!

In early October, Gmail and Yahoo released statements announcing important updates for bulk email senders. As of 2024, all bulk email senders will be required to authenticate their emails, enable easy unsubscription, and make sure they send to willing recipients only. 

Well. We knew this was coming. That’s why, for our clients, these updates will have no effect, but more on that later.

Let’s unpack these updates and what they mean for mass email senders worldwide. 

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Gmail and Yahoo Email Security Update for 2024

As Gmail claims, their AI-powered defense system already stops more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware, blocking close to 15 billion shady emails per day. But facing more sophisticated cold email software and spamming tactics, the email colossus decided to introduce new, more rigorous requirements for all large-volume senders, meaning those that send over 5,000 emails to Gmail addresses a day. 

Yahoo, Gmail’s partner in this action, issued an almost identical statement, with their Director of Product, Marcel Becker, saying: “In the interconnected world of email, that takes all of us working together. Yahoo looks forward to working with Google and the rest of the email community to make these common sense, high-impact changes the new industry standard.“

According to both companies, this action will introduce better security and make the inboxes “less spammy” while keeping the senders healthy and recipients happy. 

And we couldn’t agree more! Here’s why. 

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2024 Google and Yahoo Bulk Email Sender Updates

To stop large-volume senders from showering their users with spam in 2024, Gmail introduced a three-fold system designed to keep all participants safe and willing. 

What both Gmail and Yahoo will require all bulk senders to do in the first quarter of 2024 is to:

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1. Authenticate Their Email Domain

What Gmail and Yahoo experts know as well as we do is that many mass email senders don’t authenticate their domains before they start their email marketing activity. That makes them seem suspicious to many ISPs and ESPs, and at the same time, it allows real spammers to hide among them. Therefore, email domain authentication has become a necessity. 

To summarize — all mass email senders will have to authenticate their email domains and verify the email-sending source by implementing industry-standard protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. 

At Campaign Refinery, we require that our clients authenticate their domains the moment they sign up. We have an accessible how-to guide, and our support will help them every step of the way. From our experience, domain authentication is the key to starting a wholesome email marketing operation since verified senders are less likely to encounter ESP and IP problems along the way. 

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2. Enable Easy Unsubscription

Gmail and Yahoo want their users to be able to unsubscribe easily. That means all senders who opt to hide their Unsubscribe button might get blocked in the future. 

One of the fundamental Campaign Refinery policies is to make it super-easy for your subscribers to unsubscribe. You can achieve this by placing the Unsubscribe button at the beginning and end of the email, clearly visible and easy to click on. It’s much better to lose one disinterested recipient who didn’t contribute to your rates or conversions anyway than to get flagged as spam. 

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3. Only Send Wanted Emails

Unsolicited, irrelevant, spammy messages will soon become a matter of the past for Gmail and Yahoo users. Any bulk sender who wants to email them will have to get explicit permission and have the recipient voluntarily give them their address. 

Our recommendation is to use a double opt-in method to ensure all of your recipients are willing to receive your messages.

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Make Friends with Gmail (and Yahoo) Spam Filter

Strict policies and tight securities might sound restrictive, but what Gmail and Yahoo are introducing is ultimately a good thing. Although these three changes seem a hassle initially, they should become a standard practice for all prominent large-volume email senders as they’re seen as basic email hygiene. The only ones that need to worry are actual spammers, something you should strive not to be or become. 

As a legitimate email sender, making friends with the Gmail spam filter is the smartest thing you can do to make sure your email operation will run smoothly. Google even created guidelines for bulk email senders to ensure they meet all the requirements by February 2024, when the update will go live. 

However, sometimes, people find it difficult to navigate Google Gmail guidelines. They seem too long, wordy, and full of technical jargon. 

We’ve got something better. 

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The Ultimate Anti-Spam Guide — The Inbox Formula by Campaign Refinery 

After decades of studying email, our founder, Travis Ketchum, has seen it all — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Inspired, he endeavored to create the best email service on the market, and along the way, he discovered the practices behind consistent email-sending success. These practices lie at the core of Campaign Refinery’s email service, ensuring our clients experience the best email performance possible. 

Would it surprise you if we said that our core practices align with Gmail and Yahoo email security updates for 2024? In a way, we predicted them. 

To conclude, we think Gmail and Yahoo are doing a good job introducing these necessary updates. We believe in them, just like we believe in the power of email. 

So, mass email marketing isn’t over after all. Who knew? 

We did. 

Happy emailing!