Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements
Gmail and Yahoo introduced new bulk-sender requirements in 2024. Gmail treats senders of about 5,000 or more messages to Gmail accounts in one day as bulk senders, while Yahoo applies its own volume criteria. Follow these requirements at any volume to reduce filtering and rejection.
Requirement 1: Authenticate your mail
Bulk senders must authenticate with SPF and DKIM, and publish a DMARC record. The authentication must also align, meaning it passes in the name of the same domain your recipients see in the From address.
What to do: verify your sending domain. Its DNS records configure DKIM signing, DMARC, and an aligned return path for SPF. You do not need to add an SPF record at the domain apex. See the sending domains guide. After a test send, confirm delivery in the email log and use the Email header analyzer to inspect the received message's authentication results. The DMARC policy generator can create a record when you do not have one.
Requirement 2: One-click unsubscribe
Marketing and promotional mail must carry a one-click unsubscribe option in the message headers (the technical standard is RFC 8058), which is the "Unsubscribe" link mail clients show next to the sender name. Opt-outs must be honored within two days.
What Bird does: marketing is the default category. Bird adds one-click List-Unsubscribe headers and a visible HTML unsubscribe link to marketing sends. An unsubscribe immediately suppresses future marketing mail to that address.
Requirement 3: Keep complaints under 0.3%
Keep your spam-complaint rate below 0.3%, and aim for less than 0.1%. A 0.3% rate is about three complaints per 1,000 delivered messages.
Where to look: the Metrics page tracks complaint rate over time. A complaint suppresses future marketing sends to the address. See sender reputation monitoring for response steps and email consent for permission requirements.
The checklist
| Requirement | Bird step |
|---|---|
| SPF, DKIM, and aligned DMARC | Verify your sending domain: the DNS records cover authentication end to end |
| One-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058) | Added automatically on marketing sends (the default), with a visible in-body link too |
| Complaint rate under 0.3% | Watch the Metrics page; send to opted-in recipients and prune the unengaged |
The providers also require valid forward and reverse DNS on sending IPs and standards-compliant message formatting. Bird manages those infrastructure requirements. You remain responsible for authenticating your domain, maintaining consent, and keeping complaint rates low.
Next steps
- Sending domains: the developer guide to domain verification and the DNS records
- Email consent: getting and keeping permission to mail
- Sender reputation monitoring: tracking your complaint rate and reacting to spikes