Email Deliverability in 2025: How Google and Yahoo's Requirements Are Affecting Small Businesses

In February 2024, Google and Yahoo began enforcing new email sender requirements designed to reduce spam and improve email security. Now, over a year into enforcement, the impact on small business email marketing is clear and significant.

If you send marketing emails and have not fully addressed these requirements, you are almost certainly losing messages to spam folders or having them rejected entirely. Here is where things stand and what you need to do.

A Quick Recap of the Requirements

The core requirements that Google and Yahoo now enforce for bulk senders (anyone sending more than 5,000 messages per day to Gmail or Yahoo addresses) include:

SPF and DKIM authentication: Your domain must have valid SPF and DKIM records that authenticate your emails
DMARC policy: Your domain must have a published DMARC record (at minimum a “none” policy)
One-click unsubscribe: Marketing emails must include a working one-click unsubscribe mechanism in the email header
Low spam complaint rate: Your spam complaint rate must stay below 0.3 percent, with a target of under 0.1 percent

Even if you send fewer than 5,000 emails per day, SPF and DKIM authentication are effectively required for consistent inbox placement.

What Has Changed Since the Initial Rollout

Google and Yahoo have progressively tightened enforcement throughout 2025. Early on, non-compliant emails might still reach the inbox with reduced priority. Now, the consequences are more severe:

Hard bounces are increasingly common for emails from domains without proper authentication
Spam folder placement rates have risen significantly for senders without DMARC records
List-Unsubscribe header compliance is being checked more strictly, with some email providers flagging messages that lack it

If your email open rates have dropped noticeably in 2025 and you have not changed your sending practices, authentication issues are the most likely cause. Check your domain's authentication status before troubleshooting anything else.

How to Check Your Setup

You do not need to be technical to verify your email authentication. Here are the simplest approaches:

Use your email service provider’s tools. Most modern email platforms like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, and Constant Contact now include authentication status dashboards that tell you exactly what is configured and what is missing.

Send a test email to Gmail. Open the email in Gmail, click the three dots menu, and select “Show original.” Look for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC results in the header. Each should show “PASS.”

Use a free checker. Services like MXToolbox and Mail Tester let you check your domain’s authentication records instantly.

What to Do If You Are Not Compliant

Step 1: Set Up SPF

An SPF record tells receiving mail servers which services are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain. Your email service provider will give you the exact record to add to your DNS settings. This is a single TXT record that typically takes five minutes to add.

Step 2: Configure DKIM

DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails that proves they have not been tampered with in transit. Your email provider will generate a DKIM key pair and give you a DNS record to publish. Again, this is usually a TXT or CNAME record.

Step 3: Publish a DMARC Record

At minimum, add a DMARC record with a “none” policy. This tells receiving servers that you have a DMARC policy in place, even if you are not yet enforcing it. The record looks like this:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

Step 4: Verify One-Click Unsubscribe

Make sure your email platform includes the List-Unsubscribe header in all marketing messages. Most reputable email service providers handle this automatically, but it is worth confirming.

The Business Impact

Small businesses that have fully implemented these requirements are reporting improved deliverability, higher open rates, and better engagement compared to early 2024. Those who have not are seeing the opposite: declining reach and wasted effort on emails that never arrive.

Email remains one of the highest-ROI marketing channels for small businesses. Protecting your deliverability is not optional. If you need help managing your email contacts and campaigns alongside your customer relationships, a tool like SMBcrm can help you keep your lists clean and your communications organized.

Take 30 minutes this week to verify your setup. It is one of the most impactful things you can do for your marketing.