Proof that Google allows sending from a gmail.com account through an external SMTP server

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batasakas
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Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2024 3:49 am

Proof that Google allows sending from a gmail.com account through an external SMTP server

Post by batasakas »

Ever since we launched the ability to hook your account up to an external SMTP provider and essentially “break” Gmail’s sending limits, one of the questions we get asked most is:

“If I have a gmail.com email address, won’t my emails go to Spam if my emails ‘from’ gmail.com are sent via SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, or any server that’s not Google’s?”

It’s a great question and a legitimate concern! Let’s address why it’s not an issue and even offer proof that Google says it’s okay — for now anyway.

Let’s check the SPF record
To understand why this is acceptable, we must understand croatia phone number material how SPF, DKIM, and DMARC work. Gmail.com’s SPF record is this:

Image

Since this record is asking us to look at another record, the SPF record for _spf.google.com is this:

v=spf1 include:_netblocks.google.com include:_netblocks2.google.com include:_netblocks3.google.com ~all

What this means is that emails with a MAIL-FROM of gmail.com must have an IP that’s contained in one of the designators above. Remember, there’s a difference between the MAIL-FROM address and the actual From address seen by receivers of email. SPF only checks the MAIL-FROM address that’s seen by the server, not by the recipient.

Now let’s say you’re sending through SendGrid or Amazon SES. By default, when you send through either one of these services, even though your “from” addresthe MAIL-FROM isn’t gmail.com, you’re still in compliance.

So for SPF, you’re compliant.

Okay, what about DKIM?
When you send an email from your gmail.com account inside Gmail to a friend, the DKIM signature on your email looks like this:

DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
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