3 ways to check if you’re on an email blacklist

Getting your domain (or IP) blacklisted can destroy your email deliverability.

Since being on a blacklist means you’re considered a spammer, your emails may go to the spam folder at best or not get delivered at worst.

Regular email blacklist checks, therefore, are essential to protect your deliverability.

We’ll show you how to do email blacklist lookups for your domain, and discuss the common reasons why you might have been blacklisted.

How to check if you’re on an email blacklist 🔍

Fortunately, checking your domain against a blacklist is easy.

Here are three ways to quickly find out if you’ve been blacklisted. ⬇️

1. Take lemwarm’s free deliverability test

The deliverability test will check if your sending domain is on an email blacklist, and give you information on how to fix the situation.

In 3 simple steps, you can find out if you’re on a blacklist.

1. ➡️ Copy the lemwarm email address and send an email to it
2. ➡️ Check the box after you’ve sent the email
3. ➡️ Click on “Show my results”

The deliverability test doesn’t just check blacklists.

It also validates your technical setup—which mostly consists of your email authentication records—and your domain’s email warm up status.

2. Sign up for lemwarm

Deliverability booster lemwarm alerts you when your domain gets blacklisted.

But that’s not all.

With lemwarm, you can build up your sender reputation by warming up your email, which involves gradually increasing sending frequency and volume while also getting replies.

The tool tells you exactly when you’re ready to start your email outreach.

To create a lemwarm account, click the Sign up button at the top of this page.

3. Check email blacklists manually

Though a bit more time-consuming, it is possible to search email blacklists manually.

Let’s use the major email blacklist SPAMHAUS as an example.

SPAMHAUS lets you search for IP, Domain, email, and more.

Just enter your domain in the search bar, click “Lookup” and check your results:

Some other relevant email blacklists are Spamcop and Barracuda.

What are email blacklists anyway?

Simple:

Email blacklists are databases with lists of domains, IPs, email addresses, or even email servers that are suspected of spammy or other suspicious behavior.

Receiving email servers check these lists when receiving emails. If the sending domain, IP, or email address appears on a blacklist, the receiving server may block the message or send it to the spam folder.

It’s important to note that email blacklists help make email a safer communication channel. Without security measures like blacklists, email outreach would have already been a thing of the past.

Sales teams and other email marketers need to learn to work with the security protocols instead of against them.

Why you must avoid getting blacklisted 🚫

Even simpler:

Being on a blacklist, and especially being on blacklistS (multiple blacklists), will hurt your sender reputation.

With your sender reputation in tatters, your email deliverability will tank.

When that happens, even the best email campaign won’t save you. If your carefully crafted emails don't reach your prospects, they're effectively worthless.

Need any more convincing that getting blacklisted is a bad thing?

Didn’t think so… 😀

Common reasons for getting blacklisted ⚠️

If you got blacklisted, you may think it was just bad luck.

However, getting blacklisted isn't some random event that happens without a cause.

If you dig a little deeper, you’ll probably find the reason why you’re on those dreaded lists.

Maybe:

• 🚨 You got many spam complaints: What does a spammer do? They blast out hundreds, if not thousands, of generic, unsolicited emails to recipients with no interest in the content. The result? Many spam complaints. The solution? Personalize all your emails and offer the recipients value in every email. Additionally, add a clear unsubscribe link to every email. Make it easier to hit unsubscribe than to click spam.
• ⚽ Your emails bounced more frequently than a bouncy ball: You will have many bounces if you send to low-quality email addresses. And a bounce doesn’t just mean a lost prospect. Instead, a high bounce rate can hurt your sender reputation, which can lead to even more bounces, which… can eventually lead you to getting blacklisted.
• 🤷‍♂️ You didn’t care about email authentication: Taking care of your technical setup is an essential aspect of tending to your sender reputation. Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC make your emails more secure, and they prove that the emails really come from your domain and that there isn't some email spoofing going on.
• 📧 You sent email from a domain with a poor sender reputation: If you purchased an existing domain with a bad reputation, you may actually be blacklisted without ever sending a single email. Note: if you share IP addresses or servers with other blacklisted senders, that IP may be blacklisted too.
• 🚫 You included many spam-trigger words in your emails: Even the most well-intended emails can trigger spam filters, and ultimately lead to you getting blacklisted, if they contain spam-trigger words.
• ❌ You sent to unverified emails: If you don’t verify each email before using it, you not only get less engagement, but you also risk getting many bounces. As you know now, a high bounce rate can hurt your deliverability and get you in trouble with blacklists.

How to get off an email blacklist

Prevention is better than cure when it comes to email blacklists.

It's easier to follow best practices from the start than to go through the process of getting removed from blacklists.

However, getting removed is entirely possible.

That is: if you follow the steps to get off an email blacklist.