Why is my G Suite IP blacklisted and emails going to spam?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 25 Apr 2025
Updated 16 Aug 2025
8 min read
Discovering your G Suite IP address is blacklisted can be a frustrating experience, especially when you are certain your sending practices are legitimate. Many users find themselves in this predicament, seeing their emails land in spam folders or being outright rejected. This issue often stems from a misunderstanding of how G Suite (now Google Workspace) manages its sending infrastructure.
Unlike dedicated sending services, G Suite operates on a shared IP address model. This means your emails are sent from IP addresses that are also used by countless other G Suite users. While this setup generally provides strong deliverability due to Google's reputation, it also carries an inherent risk. The actions of other users on the same shared IP can directly impact your email deliverability, even if your own sending habits are impeccable.
When an IP address on a shared pool gets blacklisted (or blocklisted), it often means that high volumes of unsolicited or problematic emails have originated from that specific IP. Even if your domain's authentication records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are perfectly set up, a poor IP reputation can still hinder your emails from reaching the inbox. Understanding this shared environment is the first step toward diagnosing and resolving your G Suite deliverability challenges.
Understanding the root causes of G Suite emails going to spam
One of the most common reasons G Suite emails land in spam is not necessarily a blacklisted IP address directly tied to your account, but rather issues with your domain's sending reputation. While G Suite handles the IP reputation for its shared pool, your domain's reputation is entirely within your control. If your domain accumulates too many spam complaints, experiences high bounce rates, or sends to disengaged recipients, receiving mail servers will flag your emails.
Cold emailing, even to a small number of known contacts, can trigger spam filters if not handled carefully. Email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail and Outlook are highly sophisticated and can detect patterns indicative of unsolicited mail, regardless of volume. If recipients mark your emails as spam, or simply ignore them, your domain's reputation will suffer, leading to lower inbox placement.
Another crucial aspect is email authentication. While you mentioned your records are properly set up, slight misconfigurations in SPF, DKIM, or DMARC can lead to authentication failures. These failures signal to receiving servers that your emails might not be legitimate, increasing their likelihood of being sent to spam. This is especially true with recent changes from major mailbox providers.
Poor email list hygiene also plays a significant role. Sending emails to invalid, inactive, or spam trap addresses can severely damage your sender reputation. Even with a small sending volume, hitting spam traps can lead to immediate blacklisting or increased spam folder placement. Regularly cleaning your email lists and ensuring you only send to engaged recipients is vital for maintaining a healthy sender reputation.
The impact of shared IP addresses and email blacklists
When your G Suite IP (or rather, a G Suite shared IP) appears on a blacklist like SORBS or Project Honey Pot, it's often a symptom of issues beyond your direct control. Google uses large IP ranges, and if a portion of that range is abused by other users, the entire range can be impacted. Receiving servers often check these blocklists (or blacklists) to filter incoming mail. For instance, Project Honey Pot specifically flags IPs that have been observed collecting email addresses from websites, indicating potential spammer activity. If your email traffic shares an IP with such activity, you might inadvertently be affected.
Dealing with these IP blocklists when using a shared service like G Suite is challenging because Google does not offer dedicated IPs for standard accounts, nor will they change your assigned IP if it's blacklisted. Their stance is that the shared IP pool's overall reputation is managed internally, and individual users generally cannot request IP changes. This means you must focus on your own sending practices to differentiate your emails from any problematic traffic originating from the same shared IP space.
While a blacklisted IP can contribute to deliverability issues, especially to smaller mail servers that rely heavily on these lists, it's often your domain's reputation that ultimately dictates whether your emails reach the inbox or the spam folder at major providers like Google and Outlook. These large providers use a multitude of signals beyond just IP reputation, including user engagement, content, and authentication, to make filtering decisions.
Steps to improve your G Suite email deliverability
Since you can't control the shared IP, enhancing your own domain's reputation is paramount. This starts with ensuring robust email authentication. SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) are fundamental. Even if you believe they're set up, it's worth re-verifying them, especially after any domain or hosting changes. For G Suite, Google provides clear instructions for setting these up.
You can use a blocklist checker or blocklist monitoring tool to confirm if your domain (not just the IP) is listed. If your domain is listed, the delisting process will depend on the specific blacklist, but generally involves resolving the underlying issue that caused the listing (e.g., spam complaints, sending to spam traps) and then requesting removal. Remember, Google offers a support page dedicated to fixing email bounces due to blocked IP address.
To specifically monitor and improve your G Suite sending reputation, leverage Google Postmaster Tools. This free service provides detailed insights into your domain's reputation, spam rate, IP reputation, and authentication errors, specifically for mail sent to Gmail recipients. It is an invaluable resource for understanding how Google views your sending practices.
Advanced strategies and long-term prevention
Beyond technical configurations, content and recipient engagement are critical. Spam filters analyze email content for suspicious keywords, formatting, and links. Avoid excessively promotional language, all caps, or too many images. Ensure your emails are personalized and provide genuine value to the recipient. A high engagement rate (opens, clicks, replies) signals to ESPs that your emails are wanted, positively influencing your domain's reputation.
For cold emailing, consider alternative strategies or platforms designed for outreach, which often come with built-in protections and dedicated IP options. If you must send cold emails from your primary G Suite domain, ensure consent where possible and provide a clear, easy way to unsubscribe. Even a small number of spam complaints can severely impact your domain's standing.
Finally, monitor your email deliverability consistently. Beyond Postmaster Tools, use an email deliverability tester to check your email's spam score before sending. This helps identify potential issues with content or configuration that could trigger filters. Regularly review your email sending volume and practices to ensure they align with best practices and the expectations of major mailbox providers.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Maintain excellent list hygiene by regularly removing inactive or invalid email addresses to reduce bounces and spam trap hits.
Always include a clear and prominent unsubscribe link in your marketing and bulk emails to allow recipients to opt out gracefully.
Implement and monitor DMARC policies at quarantine or reject to protect your domain from spoofing and enhance trust.
Segment your audience and personalize content to improve engagement rates, signaling to ISPs that your emails are valued.
Common pitfalls
Relying solely on IP reputation and ignoring your domain's sender reputation for deliverability issues.
Sending cold emails without proper consent or a clear value proposition, leading to high spam complaints.
Neglecting to monitor Google Postmaster Tools for insights into your domain's performance with Gmail.
Assuming G Suite's shared IPs will always ensure inbox placement, overlooking individual sending practices.
Expert tips
If using G Suite for any form of cold outreach, even to known contacts, understand that it's designed for transactional and consented business communication, not cold emailing.
Focus on maintaining a strong domain reputation by consistently sending wanted, engaging, and authenticated emails.
Shared IPs mean you're dependent on Google's overall sending practices. Your individual domain reputation is your primary lever.
Warm-up processes are effective for new domains or IPs to build reputation, but they can't fix fundamental issues like sending unsolicited mail.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says that G Suite does not provide dedicated IPs, so users are on a shared IP environment.
2022-05-14 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that if you are sending cold emails, the spam filters are functioning as intended by classifying them as spam.
2022-05-14 - Email Geeks
Final thoughts on G Suite deliverability
While encountering a blacklisted G Suite IP can be alarming, it's crucial to understand that G Suite's shared IP model means you likely share your sending IP with many others. Rather than focusing solely on the IP, which Google typically manages and won't change for individual users, the primary focus should be on your domain's reputation.
Your sending practices, email content, and recipient engagement are the most significant factors influencing whether your emails land in the inbox or spam folder. By rigorously implementing email authentication, maintaining clean email lists, crafting engaging content, and monitoring your sender reputation via tools like Google Postmaster Tools, you can significantly improve your G Suite email deliverability.
Ultimately, a blacklisted G Suite IP might be a symptom of broader issues within Google's shared pools, but your proactive measures in managing your domain's health will be the most effective way to ensure your legitimate emails consistently reach their intended recipients.
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