Gmail has become ubiquitous as the leading mailbox provider. Gmail is also often considered the most advanced in terms of filtering and features among online mailboxes. And with so many users, it’s critical to understand how Gmail thinks about deliverability.

Apart from keeping your emails safe, Gmail also includes a ton of other features that are helpful to both senders and receivers. That said, it can be overwhelming if you’re just getting started.

In this episode, we discuss how Gmail determines where to place emails, the promotions tab, Google Postmaster Tools, and how to fix spam filtering issues.

Main Takeaways

Gmail’s priority is keeping your messages safe, which has led to a complex algorithm used to identify spam. It considers domain reputation heavily and that may cause your emails to be filtered differently than in other mailbox providers.
When using your own domain, it’s important that you have a solid sender reputation and consistent email volume. If you don’t, a large portion of your emails will bounce.
The promotions tab in Gmail separates the user’s subscription emails from the primary inbox where one-to-one messages land. If your email goes to the promotions tab and someone opens it, they truly wanted to do so, and they're going to spend time reading that email.
Google Postmaster Tools help you know what your current reputation is as a sender. It will tell you if your domain reputation is good or bad and where you need to improve.

“Opens are not all equal. You might see your open rates drop if your messages go to the promotions tab and that’s when people usually panic. But the “open” in the primary tab might not be as valuable as the “open” in the promotions tab.” ~ @alyssa_dulin

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