Google Is Finally Cracking Down on Mass Emails

If you are the recipient of a lot of unwanted mass emails, there’s a tiny bit of good news: Google is adding a few (admittedly low) hurdles for users who send out thousands of marketing messages on any given day, most of which went into effect at the beginning of February. On the flip side, if you’re a bulk sender, you’ll need to follow these new guidelines to avoid having your messages rejected or sent to spam.

What to know about Gmail’s bulk send rules

Google defines a bulk sender as a user who sends “close to” 5,000 emails or more within 24 hours from the same primary domain to personal Gmail accounts. Even if you do this only once, you are forever classified as a bulk sender.

As of Feb. 1, Google is requiring bulk senders to follow specific rules to avoid errors and message rejections. The guidelines dictate spam rates, authentication requirements, and unsubscribe options—you can find the detailed requirements on Google’s support page.

It’s important to know that Google is doing a rolling enforcement of bulk sender guidelines in the coming months to give users time to resolve compliance issues:

• February 2024: Bulk senders will begin receiving temporary errors on a small percentage of non-compliant messages.
• April 2024: Google will begin rejecting non-compliant email traffic, starting with a small percentage that will increase over time.
• June 2024: Bulk senders must have a one-click unsubscribe option in all commercial, promotional emails.

Note that these guidelines apply only to messages sent to personal Gmail accounts—emails sent to Google Workspace accounts as well as intra-domain messages are excluded. However, all senders must follow the rules regardless of the type of account they have.

For senders who don’t follow the rules, there’s an increased chance that emails will go to spam or be rejected. If you qualify as a bulk sender, you can check the compliance status dashboard in your Postmaster Tools.