If your emails are reaching recipients' spam or junk folders instead of their inboxes, it may affect your business communication, customer relationships, and important notifications.
This problem is commonly known as an email deliverability issue.
Email providers such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo use different security checks to decide whether an incoming message should reach the inbox, spam folder, or be rejected.
Neurax Host provides professional business email hosting and email security solutions, including outbound email filtering, to help protect email communication and sender reputation.
In this guide, we will explain why emails go to spam and how you can improve email deliverability.
1. Why Are My Emails Going to Spam?
There are several reasons why your emails might be marked as spam.
1. Missing or Incorrect SPF Records
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method that identifies which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
If your SPF record is missing, incorrect, or does not include your authorized sending service, receiving email providers may have difficulty verifying your messages.
How to fix it:
- Check your domain's DNS settings.
- Locate your existing SPF TXT record.
- Confirm that it authorizes your actual outgoing email service.
- Update the record using the exact SPF value provided by your email hosting provider.
- Make sure your domain does not have multiple conflicting SPF records.
2. Missing or Incorrect DKIM Records
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to outgoing emails.
The receiving email server uses this signature to verify that the message is associated with an authorized sending domain and has not been modified in transit.
How to fix it:
- Open your email hosting control panel.
- Look for the email authentication or DKIM settings.
- Generate or locate your DKIM record.
- Add the required TXT record to your domain's DNS settings.
- Verify that DKIM authentication is passing.
Use the exact DKIM hostname and public key supplied by your email provider.
3. Missing DMARC Records
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) helps domain owners specify how receiving email providers should handle messages that fail SPF and DKIM authentication checks.
It also provides reporting information that can help identify unauthorized email activity.
How to fix it:
- Create a DMARC TXT record in your domain's DNS.
- Start with a monitoring policy such as
p=none. - Review DMARC reports to identify authentication problems.
- Correct SPF, DKIM, and domain alignment issues.
- Move to a stricter policy such as quarantine or reject when your legitimate email sources are correctly configured.
Do not immediately apply a strict DMARC policy without checking all legitimate email-sending services associated with your domain.
4. Poor Sender Reputation
Your sender reputation is an important factor in email deliverability.
If your domain or sending IP address has a history of sending spam, receiving servers may treat future messages as suspicious.
Common reasons include:
- Sending too many emails in a short period.
- High numbers of spam complaints.
- Sending emails to invalid or inactive addresses.
- Using purchased or outdated email lists.
- Sending unwanted promotional messages.
- Compromised email accounts sending spam.
How to fix it:
- Send emails only to people who have agreed to receive them.
- Remove invalid and permanently bounced email addresses.
- Avoid sending large volumes of emails suddenly.
- Monitor spam complaints and bounce rates.
- Secure compromised email accounts.
- Follow applicable anti-spam laws, including Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), where applicable.
5. Spam-Like Email Content
Email content can also influence spam filtering.
Messages containing suspicious links, misleading subject lines, excessive promotional language, or unusual attachments may receive additional scrutiny.
How to fix it:
- Use clear and relevant subject lines.
- Write natural, useful email content.
- Avoid misleading claims and deceptive language.
- Do not use excessive capital letters or unnecessary punctuation.
- Include legitimate business contact information.
- Avoid suspicious links and unexpected attachments.
- Include an appropriate unsubscribe option for marketing emails where required.
6. Incorrect Email Configuration
Incorrect SMTP settings or unauthenticated email sending can create delivery problems.
How to fix it:
- Use the outgoing SMTP server provided by your email hosting provider.
- Enable SMTP authentication.
- Use the correct username and password.
- Use the recommended SMTP port and encryption method.
- Avoid sending emails through unauthorized or unreliable mail servers.
Contact your hosting provider if you are unsure about the correct SMTP settings.
2. How to Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC in Your Domain
Email authentication is one of the most important steps in improving email deliverability.
You can manage DNS records through your domain's DNS management interface or hosting control panel.
SPF Configuration
SPF is published as a TXT record in your domain's DNS zone.
Example structure:
- Type: TXT
- Host/Name: @
- Value:
v=spf1 include:YOUR-AUTHORIZED-MAIL-SERVICE ~all
Replace the example with the actual SPF value provided by your email hosting provider. Do not publish the placeholder as a working record.
DKIM Configuration
DKIM is also published as a DNS TXT record.
Example structure:
- Type: TXT
- Host/Name: Your provider's DKIM selector and domain.
- Value: Your provider's DKIM public key.
The selector and public key must come from your email hosting provider. Every email-sending service may require its own DKIM configuration.
DMARC Configuration
DMARC is published as a TXT record.
Example monitoring record:
- Type: TXT
- Host/Name:
_dmarc - Value:
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com
Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain and ensure the reporting mailbox exists and is configured to receive reports.
This is an example of a monitoring policy, not a complete enforcement configuration.
Important: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records must be configured correctly and aligned with your actual sending domain. Simply adding these records does not guarantee inbox delivery.
3. How Can Neurax Host Help Improve Email Deliverability?
Neurax Host offers professional email hosting and email security services to help businesses maintain secure and reliable email communication.
A. Business Email Hosting
Neurax Host provides professional email hosting that allows businesses to communicate using their own domain name.
Business email plans include spam filtering and account protection features.
Professional email hosting helps establish a consistent business email identity and supports secure business communication.
B. Outbound Email Filtering
Neurax Host offers an Outbound Filtering solution designed to help protect your email reputation.
Its features include:
- Outbound spam filtering.
- Outgoing virus scanning.
- Spam reputation protection.
- Relay protection.
- Compliance assistance.
- Detailed outbound reports.
Outbound filtering helps identify and control suspicious outgoing email activity before it affects your email communication.
It is particularly useful for businesses that send regular emails and want additional protection against outbound spam.
C. Inbound Email Filtering
Neurax Host also provides Inbound Filtering to help protect your mailbox from unwanted incoming emails.
Features include:
- SpamAssassin and ASSP filtering.
- Virus scanning and removal.
- Real-time threat updates.
- Hourly rule updates.
- Spam quarantine reports.
- Easy setup and management.
D. Inbound + End User Control
This option combines inbound spam filtering with additional controls for individual users.
Features include:
- User-specific allow and block lists.
- Individual spam scoring.
- Personal quarantine access.
- Outlook plug-in integration.
- End-user spam preferences.
These features help users manage incoming spam and customize their email filtering preferences.
Explore the Neurax Host Anti-Spam service to find the appropriate email security solution.
4. How to Test Whether Your Emails Are Properly Authenticated
After configuring your email authentication records, test your outgoing emails.
Follow these steps:
- Send a test email from your business email address to a Gmail or Outlook account that you control.
- Open the received email.
- View the original message or full email headers.
- Locate the authentication results.
- Check the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC results.
- Look for PASS results for all three authentication methods.
- If any check fails, review your DNS records and email configuration.
You can also use reputable email testing tools to inspect your authentication records and message headers.
Remember that passing authentication checks improves trust but does not guarantee that an email will reach the inbox.
5. What Should I Do If My Emails Still Go to Spam?
If you have configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC correctly but your emails are still reaching spam folders, follow these additional steps.
Step 1: Check Your Sending IP Reputation
Check whether your outgoing mail server's IP address has been listed on reputable email blocklists.
If you find a listing, investigate the reason before requesting removal.
Step 2: Check Your Email Bounce Messages
Review any delivery failure notifications.
These messages may explain whether the recipient's server rejected your email because of authentication, reputation, policy, or recipient-address problems.
Step 3: Review Your Email Sending Activity
Check whether your account is sending unexpected or unusually large volumes of email.
If you notice suspicious activity, change your password, enable available multi-factor authentication, and contact technical support.
Step 4: Review Your Email Content
Make sure your messages contain legitimate information, relevant links, and clear sender details.
Step 5: Contact Neurax Host Support
If the problem continues, contact the Neurax Host support team with the affected domain, sending email address, approximate sending time, recipient provider, and any bounce messages or email headers.
The support team can help investigate the hosting-side email configuration and available outbound filtering options.
6. Best Practices to Prevent Future Email Deliverability Problems
Follow these practices to maintain better email deliverability:
- Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC correctly.
- Use a consistent business email address and domain.
- Keep your email account passwords secure.
- Enable multi-factor authentication where available.
- Avoid sending unsolicited bulk emails.
- Send messages only to valid and permission-based recipients.
- Remove invalid and inactive addresses.
- Monitor email bounce rates and spam complaints.
- Avoid misleading subject lines and suspicious attachments.
- Keep your domain DNS records updated.
- Monitor your domain and sending IP reputation.
- Use appropriate outbound email filtering.
- Follow applicable email marketing and anti-spam regulations.
8. Contact Neurax Host Support
If your business emails continue to reach spam folders after following these steps, the Neurax Host team can help you investigate the issue and identify the appropriate email security solution.
Website: https://neuraxhost.ca/
Sales Email: sales@neuraxhost.ca
General Support: support@neuraxhost.ca
Help Desk: Submit a support ticket through your Neurax Host account.
Live Chat: Available 24/7.
Explore Email Services:
- Business Email Hosting: https://neuraxhost.ca/business-email
- Anti-Spam Protection: https://neuraxhost.ca/anti-spam
Final Recommendation: Start by checking your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Then review your sender reputation, email content, and sending activity. If you need additional protection for outgoing emails, consider Neurax Host Outbound Filtering to help protect your email reputation and reduce suspicious outgoing messages.