How to Resolve Low Domain Authority in Google Postmaster and Recover IP Reputation

If you're an online marketer, a conversion specialist, or the leader of a sales team, few things are more frustrating than watching your email open rates drop without warning.

One of the most common, yet overlooked, reasons for this is low domain authority as flagged by Google Postmaster Tools.

When Google begins to view your IP address or domain as untrustworthy, your emails are less likely to land in inboxes and more likely to be filtered into spam. This can tank your campaign performance overnight. In this post, we’ll walk you through how to identify the issue, what causes it, and how to recover your IP reputation and domain authority step by step.

What Is Domain Authority in Google Postmaster?

In the context of email deliverability, domain authority isn't the same as SEO authority. Google Postmaster evaluates your domain's and IP’s sending reputation. A low reputation indicates to Gmail that your messages may be unwanted, harmful, or spammy. This leads to email throttling, delivery delays, and worst of all, emails being sent directly to the spam folder.

Why Is Your Domain Authority Low?

There are several triggers that can cause a drop in your domain’s authority:

• Sending high volumes to unengaged or cold email lists

• High spam complaint rates from recipients

• Lack of proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

• Inconsistent sending patterns or sudden volume spikes

• Repetitive spammy content or subject lines

• Lack of compliance with email best practices (no unsubscribe link, misleading headers, etc.)

Now let’s get into how to fix the problem.

Step-by-Step Plan to Recover from Low Domain Authority in Google Postmaster

1. Reduce Sending Volume

The first step is to immediately cut back on your email sending volume. If you’re currently sending 20,000 emails a day and getting flagged, reduce this by 50 to 80 percent. Focus on your most active and engaged subscribers during this phase.

This allows Google’s filters to see higher engagement rates from your sends, which contributes positively to your IP and domain reputation.

2. Clean Your Email List

A bloated or outdated list can be the fastest path to a low reputation. Take the time to:

• Remove contacts who haven’t engaged in the last 90 days

• Eliminate role-based emails like info@, sales@, support@, which often bounce or trigger spam complaints

• Suppress users who have previously marked your emails as spam

Use email validation tools if necessary to verify active addresses. The cleaner the list, the better your deliverability metrics will be.

3. Segment Your Audience

Not all subscribers are created equal. Segment your list into tiers based on engagement:

• Tier 1: Users who opened or clicked in the last 30 days

• Tier 2: Users active in the last 31 to 90 days

• Tier 3: Cold users who haven’t engaged in 90+ days

Only send to Tier 1 initially. These are your best bet for boosting open rates and proving to Gmail that your domain deserves trust.

4. Implement a Warm-Up Strategy

Think of warming your domain like training for a marathon. You don’t go from zero to 26 miles in one day. Here's a simple schedule to follow:

• Day 1-2: Send 500 to 1,000 emails to Tier 1 contacts

• Day 3-4: Increase to 2,000 to 5,000 emails

• Day 5-7: Expand to 5,000 to 10,000 emails, and begin including Tier 2 if Tier 1 performance is strong

• Day 8 onward: Gradually increase volume, while constantly monitoring engagement

If spam complaints or bounce rates spike, pause and reassess. You may need to slow the ramp-up or clean your list further.

5. Monitor Your Inbox Placement

Just because an email was sent doesn't mean it landed in the inbox. Use inbox placement testing tools like GlockApps, MailReach, or InboxAlly to see exactly where your emails are ending up.

If you’re still seeing high spam folder placement after reducing volume and improving list hygiene, it may be necessary to pause Gmail sends entirely for a few days. This gives their systems a chance to reset their trust evaluations on your IP.

6. Make Sure Authentication is Set Up Correctly

Email authentication is not optional. Ensure the following records are properly configured in your DNS:

• SPF: Specifies which IPs are allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain

• DKIM: Uses cryptographic signatures to verify that the content wasn’t altered in transit

• DMARC: Tells receiving servers how to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM

Google Postmaster Tools will flag issues with these authentications. If DMARC is missing or misconfigured, Google may not trust your domain even if SPF and DKIM are correct.

7. Avoid Repetitive or Spammy Content

Low domain authority can be triggered by content issues as well. Avoid subject lines that include all caps, too many emojis, or words like "Free," "Act Now," or "Last Chance."

Instead, use A/B testing to find subject lines and copy that engage users without triggering spam filters. Personalize content when possible, and keep a consistent tone and sending identity.

8. Pause Re-engagement Campaigns Temporarily

Now is not the time to try and wake up cold leads. Avoid sending to Tier 3 or unengaged contacts while trying to recover your domain and IP reputation. Focus solely on maximizing deliverability to your most engaged users.

Once your domain reputation improves and inbox placement stabilizes, you can slowly test re-engagement campaigns using a different IP or subdomain.

9. Suppression and Unsubscribe Hygiene

Make sure you are honoring unsubscribes instantly and using a visible one-click unsubscribe link. Not only does this prevent spam complaints, but Gmail also looks for this as a sign of a legitimate sender.

Also implement automatic suppression of users who haven’t engaged in 60 or 90 days. Keeping disengaged users off your list is essential to maintaining high reputation.

10. Stay Consistent with Sending

After reputation starts to recover, keep your sending patterns consistent. Sudden spikes, erratic schedules, or inconsistent content types can hurt trust with Google.

Send regularly at predictable intervals, even if the volume is lower than before. Build trust over time.

---

Resolving a low domain authority issue in Google Postmaster and recovering your IP reputation isn’t something that happens overnight. But with the right steps, you can turn things around and restore high inbox placement for your emails.

Focus on list hygiene, authenticated infrastructure, engagement-first segmentation, and controlled sending volumes. Follow these steps, and your campaigns will be back in the inbox, and converting, sooner than you think.

For marketers, sales teams, and business owners wondering why people aren't opening their emails, the answer is often rooted in domain and IP reputation. With the right playbook, that’s a fixable problem.