How to troubleshoot undelivered email messages from GoDaddy?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 29 Jul 2025
Updated 16 Aug 2025
9 min read
When emails from your GoDaddy-hosted domain aren't reaching their recipients, it can be a frustrating experience. Whether you're seeing bounce messages, or simply no delivery notifications at all, pinpointing the exact cause requires a systematic approach. Many factors can contribute to email delivery issues, ranging from incorrect DNS settings to sender reputation problems or even recipient-side spam filters.
I've helped countless businesses navigate these complexities. The key is to understand the layers involved in email delivery and methodically check each one. Often, the error message you receive, if any, holds crucial clues about what went wrong. Pay close attention to these details, as they can significantly narrow down your troubleshooting efforts.
This guide will walk you through the most common reasons why your GoDaddy emails might not be delivering and provide actionable steps to diagnose and resolve these issues. My aim is to equip you with the knowledge to efficiently identify the root cause and restore your email flow.
Confirming fundamental settings and common issues
Often, the simplest explanations are the correct ones when emails aren't delivering. Before diving into complex technical configurations, it is always a good practice to verify the most basic settings and potential user-side issues that could be preventing your messages from reaching their destination. A thorough check here can save significant time.
One of the first things I advise checking is the recipient's email address itself. Typos are surprisingly common and lead to immediate hard bounces. Also, ensure the recipient's mailbox isn't full, as this will also cause emails to be rejected. Additionally, always ask recipients to check their spam or junk folders, as legitimate emails can sometimes be mistakenly filtered there. GoDaddy also advises checking internet connection stability and restarting devices, which can sometimes resolve transient client-side issues.
Next, it's crucial to confirm your email client's settings. If you're using an application like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail to send and receive emails, verify that the IMAP, POP, and SMTP settings precisely match those provided by GoDaddy. Incorrect server names, port numbers, or authentication methods are frequent culprits that lead to undelivered mail.
Beyond client settings, verify your domain's email service is active within GoDaddy. Sometimes, an expired service or an administrative hold can silently block email flow. This is a quick check in your GoDaddy account dashboard that should not be overlooked.
Common user-side problems
Incorrect recipient:Typos in email addresses are a primary cause of immediate rejections.
Full mailbox:If the recipient's inbox is over capacity, new emails will bounce back.
Spam folder misfiling:Recipients should always check their junk or spam folders, even for expected emails.
Initial client and service checks
Email client settings:Confirm that your email application's server settings (IMAP/POP, SMTP) are accurate.
Active service status:Ensure your GoDaddy email service is active and not suspended or expired.
Connectivity:Verify your internet connection and restart your email client or device.
Verifying DNS records for email routing
DNS records are the backbone of email delivery, directing where your emails should go and verifying their authenticity. Misconfigured or missing DNS records are a very common reason for undelivered GoDaddy emails, particularly if you've recently migrated your domain or changed hosting providers. This is often where I start my deeper investigation when basic checks fail.
The most critical record for receiving email is the MX (Mail Exchange) record. This record tells other mail servers where to send emails for your domain. If your MX records are pointing incorrectly, or are missing entirely, incoming emails simply won't know where to go. GoDaddy provides specific MX record values for their email services, which must be precisely entered into your domain's DNS settings.
Additionally, CNAME records, such as the Autodiscover CNAME, are essential for some email services, particularly for automatic configuration in clients like Microsoft Outlook. If this record is missing or incorrect, it can lead to issues with email client setup and connectivity, even if the MX records are otherwise correct. You can find detailed instructions on verifying and adding these records within your GoDaddy domain management panel.
For sending emails, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) records are vital for authentication. I find that issues with these records often lead to emails being marked as spam or rejected outright by recipient servers. You can review how to troubleshoot intermittent email delivery failures caused by SPF and DNS issues in my comprehensive guide.
Common DNS records for email
MX Record:Specifies the mail server responsible for receiving emails for your domain.
DKIM Record:Adds a digital signature to your emails, verifying content integrity and sender identity.
DMARC Record:Instructs receiving servers on how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM authentication.
Addressing sender reputation and blocklists
Even with perfect DNS settings, your emails can still fail to deliver if your sender reputation is low or if your sending IP address or domain appears on a blocklist (or blacklist). This is a common hurdle, especially for senders who might be sending higher volumes or have previously experienced spam complaints. Understanding your reputation is key.
Email service providers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) maintain various internal and external blocklists (also known as blacklists) to combat spam. If your sending IP or domain is listed on one of these, legitimate emails can be blocked or heavily filtered. Common reasons for being listed include sending unsolicited email, high bounce rates, or numerous spam complaints. Checking these lists, like through a reliable blocklist checker, can provide immediate insight.
To mitigate this, maintaining a healthy sender reputation is paramount. This involves sending to engaged recipients, avoiding spammy content, and promptly removing invalid email addresses from your lists to reduce hard bounces. I often emphasize the importance of list hygiene as a foundational element of good email deliverability. For more information, you can read my guide on an in-depth guide to email blocklists.
If you suspect your IP or domain is blocklisted, you'll need to identify which list you're on and follow their specific delisting procedures. This typically involves proving you've resolved the underlying issues that led to the listing, such as implementing proper authentication or cleaning your sending practices. Proactive monitoring through a blocklist monitoring service can alert you early to any listings, allowing for quicker remediation.
Deciphering bounce messages
When an email doesn't deliver, the sending server usually generates a bounce message, or Non-Delivery Report (NDR), sent back to the original sender. These messages are invaluable diagnostic tools. They contain error codes and descriptions that explain why the email was rejected or undelivered, providing precise information for troubleshooting.
Bounce messages typically fall into two categories: soft bounces and hard bounces. Soft bounces are temporary delivery failures, such as a full mailbox, server downtime, or the message being too large. Hard bounces, on the other hand, indicate permanent delivery failures, often due to an invalid email address (e.g., a typo in the recipient's address) or the recipient's server permanently rejecting the message due to content or sender reputation issues. As discovered in the GoDaddy support thread, hard bounces can be a key indicator.
I cannot stress enough the importance of analyzing these bounce messages. They contain SMTP error codes (e.g., 550, 554, 421) and descriptive text that directly point to the problem. For example, a "550 5.7.1" error often indicates a sender authentication failure or that the message was blocked by the recipient's server due to spam filters or a blacklist. GoDaddy provides guidance on fixing rejected emails with a bounce error that can be very helpful.
If you're not receiving bounce messages, it could indicate a more severe problem, such as your emails being silently dropped by an ISP, or a misconfiguration on your sending server preventing the NDR from being generated. In such cases, checking your email server logs is critical. These logs provide a detailed record of every email transaction, including any rejections or delivery failures, even if a bounce message isn't returned to you directly. You can find more information about understanding and resolving bounce messages in my guide on how to troubleshoot email bounce messages.
Code
Meaning
Likely cause
Actionable step
421
Service not available, closing transmission channel.
Temporary server issue, too many connections.
Recipient server is temporarily overloaded. Try again later.
450
Requested mail action not taken: mailbox unavailable.
Recipient's mailbox is temporarily full or unreachable.
The issue is temporary. Your server should retry sending.
550
Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable.
Invalid recipient address, or blocked by recipient's server (spam/blacklist).
Verify recipient email address. Check your domain reputation and ensure you're not on a blocklist.
554
Transaction failed.
Permanent error, often related to spam, spoofing, or policy rejection.
Check SPF, DKIM, DMARC alignment. Review content for spam triggers. Remove recipient from list.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Implement DMARC with a 'p=none' policy initially to monitor email authentication without affecting delivery.
Regularly clean your email lists by removing bounced addresses and inactive subscribers to improve sender reputation.
Monitor your sender score and check various blacklists regularly for any unexpected listings.
Common pitfalls
Neglecting to monitor bounce messages and server logs, which contain crucial diagnostic information.
Ignoring warnings about SPF 'lookups exceeded' or incorrect DKIM records, leading to authentication failures.
Not validating email addresses before sending, resulting in high hard bounce rates and reputation damage.
Expert tips
Utilize GoDaddy's own support resources and documentation, which often have specific troubleshooting guides for their services.
When contacting GoDaddy support, be prepared with specific bounce messages, error codes, and details of your DNS records.
For complex issues, consider using an email deliverability testing tool to simulate delivery and identify potential roadblocks.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that simply stating 'undelivered' is insufficient. It's crucial to obtain the specific rejection message or bounce-back error to diagnose the real problem.
2023-05-15 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they found their 100% undelivery issue with GoDaddy was due to hard bounce messages from their end, which required deeper investigation.
2023-05-16 - Email Geeks
Moving forward with deliverability
Troubleshooting undelivered emails from GoDaddy can feel like a complex puzzle, but by systematically checking common culprits, you can often pinpoint and resolve the issue. My advice is to always start with the basics: verify recipient information, check your client settings, and confirm your GoDaddy email service is active.
From there, move on to critical DNS records like MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These authentication protocols are increasingly important for ensuring your emails reach the inbox and aren't flagged as spam. Consistent monitoring of your sender reputation and quick action on any blocklist listings are also crucial for maintaining good deliverability.
Finally, always analyze bounce messages. They are your most direct source of information about why an email failed. By understanding the specific error codes and descriptions, you'll be well-equipped to address the underlying problem and ensure your GoDaddy emails reach their intended recipients.
Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail to send and receive emails, verify that the IMAP, POP, and SMTP settings precisely match those provided by GoDaddy. Incorrect server names, port numbers, or authentication methods are frequent culprits that lead to undelivered mail.
