Why is there a sudden click increase from Gmail addresses in SES campaigns, and could Google security checks be the cause?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 12 Aug 2025
Updated 17 Aug 2025
8 min read
Recently, I've observed a significant uptick in clicks from Gmail addresses within Amazon SES campaigns. We're talking about a 70% increase, which, while seemingly positive, raises immediate questions. Is this a genuine surge in engagement, or is something else at play? This kind of sudden, dramatic shift often points towards automated activity rather than organic user behavior.
My suspicion quickly turned to Google's security infrastructure. Major email providers like Google employ sophisticated systems to protect users from spam, phishing, and malware. These systems often involve pre-scanning emails and clicking links to verify their safety before delivering them to the inbox. This process can inadvertently inflate click metrics, making it look like users are interacting more than they actually are.
Understanding sudden click increases
Distinguishing between legitimate user engagement and automated clicks is crucial for accurate campaign analysis. A genuine 70% increase in clicks would be cause for celebration, but if those clicks are non-human, they can distort your understanding of campaign performance and potentially lead to misguided strategic decisions.
Automated clicks, often referred to as non-human interaction (NHI) clicks, are generated by bots, security scanners, or pre-fetching mechanisms. These aren't human recipients engaging with your content. They usually originate from specific IP ranges, often associated with major internet service providers (ISPs) or cloud services. Understanding the nature of these clicks is the first step in diagnosing and addressing the issue.
When you see a sudden, drastic spike, it's rarely a sign of organic success. Instead, it's a prompt to investigate your data more deeply. Look for patterns in the timestamps, geographical locations, and user agents associated with these clicks. If they are all happening within milliseconds of each other, from data centers, or without corresponding opens, they are almost certainly not human.
Potential causes of phantom clicks from Gmail
The most common culprit for phantom clicks from Gmail addresses is Google's sophisticated security architecture. Google employs various checks to protect its users, which can include automatically clicking on links within emails. This is part of their effort to identify malicious content, such as malware or phishing attempts, before the email even reaches the recipient's inbox. These security checks are detailed in Google's own sender guidelines.
Beyond security scans, Google (and other major ISPs) may also pre-fetch content or conduct pre-delivery checks. This means that as soon as an email hits their servers, their systems might automatically access linked URLs to cache content or perform additional verification. While beneficial for user experience and security, it directly inflates your click metrics without actual user interaction.
Another factor could be the IP addresses associated with Amazon SES's shared pools. If there's been a recent issue with an IP on a public blocklist (or blacklist), like Spamhaus, it might prompt more aggressive scanning from recipient servers. This is less about your specific sending practices and more about the shared environment. If you're encountering issues related to being put on a blocklist or a blacklist, understanding how email blacklists actually work can be helpful.
It's also worth noting that some ESPs or analytics tools might use their own methods for click tracking that could interact with these security checks in unexpected ways, potentially leading to inflated numbers. Always verify your tracking setup.
Understanding bot clicks
A sudden, disproportionate increase in clicks, especially without a corresponding rise in other engagement metrics like opens or conversions, is a strong indicator of non-human activity. This is particularly true if the clicks originate from data centers or generic IP ranges, which can be seen across various IP types.
How to investigate and verify clicks
To confirm whether Google security checks or other automated processes are indeed the cause, you need to dive into your click data. Start by segmenting your clicks by ISP. If the bulk of the increase is coming specifically from Gmail addresses, this points strongly towards bot click activity.
Next, examine the IP addresses associated with these clicks. You'll often find they resolve to Google Cloud or similar data center ranges. If you track user agents, you might see patterns that don't align with typical browser behavior. Another tell-tale sign is the speed of these clicks: often, a massive number of clicks occur within seconds or minutes of the email being sent, which is virtually impossible for human interaction on a large scale.
Compare these click spikes with your open rates and conversion data. If clicks are soaring but opens are flat (or even declining), and conversions aren't seeing a proportional rise, it's a clear red flag. True engagement usually sees a correlation across these metrics. This disproportionate increase can also affect metrics reported in Google Postmaster Tools.
You can often spot these automated clicks by looking at common Google IP ranges in your logs. Here’s an example of what you might see:
Inflated click metrics can paint a misleading picture of your email campaign's success. If you're reporting high click-through rates based on these automated clicks, you might overestimate the effectiveness of your content and calls to action. This can lead to flawed A/B tests and incorrect conclusions about audience engagement.
Furthermore, if your email service provider (ESP) or internal systems interpret these phantom clicks as genuine engagement, it could negatively impact your list hygiene. Some systems might flag highly engaged recipients for special treatment, while in reality, these are just bots. This can also lead to unintended consequences, such as false positive unsubscribes if you use one-click unsubscribe links directly in the email body, as Gmail's list-unsubscribe feature is often pre-scanned by bots.
The critical issue here is data integrity. To make informed decisions about your email strategy, you need data that accurately reflects human behavior. Ignoring these phantom clicks can mask real deliverability issues, such as emails going to spam or sudden increases in spam filtering, by making it seem like engagement is high.
True engagement
Aligned metrics: Clicks correspond with opens and conversions.
Varied IPs: Clicks come from diverse IP addresses and geographical locations.
Organic timing: Clicks are spread out over time, reflecting human interaction patterns.
Bot activity
Disproportionate clicks: High clicks, low opens, or conversions.
Data center IPs: Clicks often originate from known data center or cloud provider IP ranges.
Instantaneous clicks: Many clicks occur immediately after sending.
Mitigating the effects and maintaining hygiene
To get a clear picture of your campaign performance, it’s essential to filter out these non-human clicks from your reporting. Most analytics platforms allow for IP exclusion or segmentation. You might need to work with your ESP or analytics team to implement this effectively. Regularly reviewing your click logs for unusual patterns, especially from known bot IP ranges, can help you identify and adjust your metrics.
Maintaining robust email authentication is also key to ensuring your emails are trusted by ISPs like Gmail. Proper configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps demonstrate your legitimacy and can reduce the need for aggressive security scanning from recipient servers. This is a primary recommendation for senders looking to improve their Gmail deliverability.
Finally, ensure you maintain a clean and engaged email list. Regular list cleaning and suppressing inactive subscribers can also reduce the likelihood of your emails being subjected to overly aggressive scanning, as a good sender reputation (partially built on list quality) signals trustworthiness to ISPs.
Best practices for accurate click tracking
IP exclusion: Exclude known security scanner IP ranges from your click reports.
Time-based filtering: Disregard clicks occurring within the first few minutes of send time.
Correlation analysis: Only count clicks that are preceded by an open from the same recipient.
Always segment your email campaign data by ISP for granular insights into engagement.
Regularly monitor your server logs and Google Postmaster Tools for unusual activity, especially IP addresses.
Implement robust email authentication protocols, including DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
Common pitfalls
Misinterpreting bot clicks as genuine engagement, leading to incorrect campaign optimizations.
Failing to exclude known bot IP ranges from your analytics, skewing performance reports.
Not cross-referencing click data with open rates and conversion metrics.
Expert tips
Leverage advanced analytics to filter out non-human interaction from your click data.
Stay updated on major ISP guidelines to proactively adjust your sending practices.
Test your email campaigns thoroughly across different email clients to observe potential pre-scanning behavior.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they noticed a massive click increase on SES, questioning if something broke between SES and Gmail, seeing a 70% increase in campaign clicks.
2024-08-16 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they use SES and had a Spamhaus issue a few days ago, which might be related to the unusual click activity.
2024-08-16 - Email Geeks
Maintaining reliable email metrics
A sudden increase in clicks from Gmail addresses on your SES campaigns is often a sign of automated security checks or pre-fetching by Google, rather than genuine human engagement. While this activity aims to protect users, it can significantly skew your campaign metrics.
To ensure reliable data for your email strategy, it's vital to investigate the source of these clicks, implement filtering for known bot activity, and maintain strong email authentication and list hygiene practices. Accurate metrics are the foundation for effective email marketing decisions, allowing you to focus on what truly drives results and avoid pitfalls like emails going to spam.
Gmail addresses within Amazon SES campaigns. We're talking about a 70% increase, which, while seemingly positive, raises immediate questions. Is this a genuine surge in engagement, or is something else at play? This kind of sudden, dramatic shift often points towards automated activity rather than organic user behavior.
Gmail addresses is Google's sophisticated security architecture. Google employs various checks to protect its users, which can include automatically clicking on links within emails. This is part of their effort to identify malicious content, such as malware or phishing attempts, before the email even reaches the recipient's inbox. These security checks are detailed in Google's own sender guidelines.
Amazon SES's shared pools. If there's been a recent issue with an IP on a public blocklist (or blacklist), like 
Spamhaus, it might prompt more aggressive scanning from recipient servers. This is less about your specific sending practices and more about the shared environment. If you're encountering issues related to being put on a blocklist or a blacklist, understanding how email blacklists actually work can be helpful.
