Summary
Experts, marketers, and documentation agree that broken links negatively impact Gmail deliverability during domain warming. Broken links can damage the sender's reputation, signal low quality or potentially malicious activity, erode trust with email providers, negatively affect SEO, and contribute to poor user experience, potentially leading to spam filtering. Additionally, technical factors like pixel load differences, fingerprinting, and prefetching discrepancies can further complicate tracking and assessment. Fixing broken links is considered a basic email hygiene practice that can significantly improve open rates and sender reputation. The sources suggest regular monitoring and validation of links, especially those in the footer, maintaining quality content, and protecting the domain's health as crucial considerations.
Key findings
- Reputation Damage: Broken links damage sender reputation, crucial during domain warming.
- Quality Signal: Broken links signal low quality or potentially malicious activity to Gmail, leading to spam filtering.
- SEO Impact: Broken links can negatively impact SEO, indirectly affecting deliverability.
- User Experience: Broken links contribute to a poor user experience, a flag for spam filters.
- Technical Issues: Pixel load differences, fingerprinting, and prefetching affect tracking accuracy.
- Link Validation: Not validating links can cause deliverability issues.
- Quality Content: Content with quality links will improve inbox placement. Broken links erode trust with email providers.
Key considerations
- Regular Monitoring: Continuously monitor and validate links within emails, especially those in footers (privacy/unsubscribe).
- Email Hygiene: Implement email hygiene practices to maintain a clean sending reputation and keep database clean.
- Domain Warming: Pay special attention to link quality during domain warming to establish trust.
- Technical Monitoring: Monitor technical factors like pixel loads, prefetching, and tracking accuracy across domains.
- Reputation Management: Actively manage and protect your sender reputation to avoid behaviours associated with spam.
- Content Quality: Ensure content is high quality, relevant, and aligned with domain promises.
- Trust Building: Build user trust by ensuring email authenticity and functionality.
What email marketers say
9 marketer opinions
Multiple email marketers and resources suggest that broken links in emails negatively impact Gmail deliverability, especially during domain warming. The presence of broken links can damage sender reputation, signal low quality or potentially malicious activity, erode trust with email providers, and negatively affect SEO, leading to poorer inbox placement. Fixing broken links is considered a basic email hygiene practice that can significantly improve open rates and sender reputation.
Key opinions
- Reputation Damage: Broken links damage sender reputation, crucial during domain warming.
- Quality Signal: Broken links signal low quality or potentially malicious activity to Gmail.
- SEO Impact: Broken links can negatively impact SEO, indirectly affecting deliverability.
- Improved Open Rates: Fixing broken links can significantly improve open rates in Gmail.
- Trust Erosion: Broken links erode trust with email providers and recipients.
- Basic Hygiene: Broken links are not maintaining email hygiene, and so can negatively affect IP warming.
Key considerations
- Monitor Links: Regularly monitor and fix broken links in your emails.
- Domain Warming: Pay special attention to link quality during domain warming.
- Email Hygiene: Implement email hygiene practices to maintain a clean sending reputation.
- Sender Reputation: Actively manage and protect your sender reputation.
- Content Quality: Ensure content is high quality and valuable to recipients.
- Technical Aspects: Address technical SEO factors for good SEO.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that links that don't work might signal a drop in the quality of your email, and it will cause gmail to be more likely to send the emails to spam, especially if the IP isn't warmed up.
3 Oct 2022 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that fixing a broken link in the email footer significantly improved open rates in Gmail during a domain warming process.
16 Mar 2023 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
6 expert opinions
Experts agree that broken links negatively impact Gmail deliverability during domain warming. They can damage the reputation of the mailstream, especially when combined with a new subdomain, potentially leading to spam filtering. Technical factors like pixel load differences between tabs, fingerprinting, and prefetching discrepancies can further complicate tracking and assessment. Ensuring all links function correctly is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation and avoiding spam filters.
Key opinions
- Reputation Impact: Broken links combined with new subdomain negatively impact mailstream reputation.
- Filtering Trigger: Emails with many errors, including broken links, are flagged by spam filters.
- Technical Factors: Pixel load differences and prefetching can affect tracking accuracy.
- Fingerprinting Risk: Gmail may see duplicate emails with broken links as fingerprinting from a spammer.
- Tracking Issues: Aligned click rates but low opens may indicate prefetching inflation of old domain opens.
- Spam Prevention: Ensuring functioning links is a direct way to reduce spam classification.
Key considerations
- Link Validation: Thoroughly validate all links, especially in footers (privacy/unsubscribe).
- Email Hygiene: Clean up email content and eliminate errors.
- Domain Warming: Closely monitor deliverability during the initial domain warming period.
- Technical Monitoring: Monitor pixel loads, prefetching, and tracking accuracy across domains.
- Reputation Protection: Prioritize sender reputation and avoid behaviors associated with spam.
- Content Consistency: Ensure messages are unique to avoid fingerprinting.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks suggests fingerprinting could be a factor if the message is the same on both domains. Gmail might think the new IP is someone stealing the message to send as their own.
22 May 2025 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that if click rates are in line between old and new domains, then there might be a tracking issue. Prefetching on the old domain is inflating open rates, making the new domain appear worse than reality.
9 Oct 2022 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Documentation from various sources indicates that broken links can negatively impact Gmail deliverability during domain warming. While not always explicitly stated as a direct cause, broken links contribute to poor user experience, can affect domain and IP reputation, and may flag emails as untrustworthy, ultimately hindering inbox placement. Tools are available to help validate links and maintain domain health.
Key findings
- User Experience: Broken links contribute to poor user experience, a flag for spam filters.
- Reputation Impact: Broken links can negatively impact domain and IP reputation.
- Perceived Legitimacy: Broken links affect the perception of an email's legitimacy.
- Content Quality: Broken links are not quality email content, impacting deliverability.
- Trust Factor: Broken links signal untrustworthy content.
- Link Validation: Use tools to validate links and maintain domain health.
Key considerations
- Regular Monitoring: Continuously monitor and validate links within emails.
- Quality Content: Ensure all email content is high quality and relevant.
- User Trust: Build user trust by ensuring email authenticity and functionality.
- Error Prevention: Minimize protocol-related errors like 404 Not Found.
- Domain Health: Actively maintain domain health to protect deliverability.
- Domain warming: Ensure to follow all email authentication and email sending best practices when domain warming.
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost explains that quality and relevant email content will improve inbox placement. Broken links are not quality content, and will affect your domain and IP reputation, resulting in lower deliverability.
16 Jun 2022 - SparkPost
Technical article
Documentation from Google Support indicates while not explicitly stated, the presence of broken links contributes to a poor user experience. Poor user experience is a potential flag for spam filters, especially during domain warming when Gmail is assessing sender reputation.
19 Mar 2025 - Google Support
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