return path: the ultimate guide to email blacklists
DESCRIPTION
If there’s one thing that’s sure to strike fear into the heart of an email marketer, it’s the news that they’ve been blacklisted – or the worry that they might be. The questions range from “what are blacklists?” to “I got blacklisted by Spamcop – what do I do now?”. Everybody knows that being listed is generally “bad news”, but many people struggle to understand the complexities of what being blacklisted really means; why it happens, what to do about it and how to prevent it happening in the future. This presentation provides an overview of the most important blacklists and their impact on your email deliverability. I’ll also outline how you can track blacklistings and how to avoid them in the first place, plus advice on what to do if you do end up on one of the major blacklists.TRANSCRIPT
The Ultimate Guide to Email Blacklists
Dale Langley
Senior Consultant, Return Path.
@email_dale
Way back when….
Way back when….
AHBL, ANT, Backscatter.org, BARRACUDA, BURNT-TECH, CASA-CBL, CASA-
CBL+, CASA-CDL, CBL, CYBERLOGIC, DEADBEEF, DNSBLINFO, DULRU,
EMAILBASURA, FABELSOURCES, FIVETEN, GIRL, GRIP, HIL, HIL, HILLI,
ICMFORBIDDEN, IMP-SPAM, IMP-WORM, INTERSIL, ivmSIP, ivmSIP/24,
KEMPTBL, KUNDENSERVER, LASHBACK, LNSGBLOCK, LNSGBULK, LNSGDUL,
LNSGMULTI, LNSGOR, LNSGSRC, SRBLCombined, MSRBL-Images, MSRBL-
Phising, MSRBL-Spam, MSRBL-Viruses, NERD, NETHERRELAYS,
NETHERUNSURE, NIXSPAM, NJABL, NJABLDUL, NJABLFORMMAIL,
NJABLMULTI, NJABLPROXIES, NJABLSOURCES, NLKUNBLACKLIST,
NLKUNWHITELIST, NOFALSEPOSITIVE, NOMOREFUNN, ORID, OSPAM, PDL,
PSBL, RANGERSBL, RATS-Dyna, RATS-NoPtr, RATS-Spam, REDHAWK, RRBL,
SCHULTE, SDERB, SENDERBASE, SERVICESNET, SOLID, SORBS-BLOCK, SORBS-
DUHL, SORBS-HTTP, SORBS-MISC, SORBS-SMTP, SORBS-SOCKS, SORBSSPAM,
SORBS-WEB, SORBS-ZOMBIE, SPAMCANNIBAL, SPAMCOP, Spamhaus-ZEN,
SPAMSOURCES, SPEWS1, SPEWS2, SWINOG, TECHNOVISION, TRIUMF,
UCEPROTECTL1, UCEPROTECTL2, UCEPROTECTL3, VIRBL, WPBL, WSFF,
ZONEEDIT, CSMA, DUINV, ORVEDB, RSBL, SPAMRBL
Who, What, When, Where & Why!
Inbox, Bulk or Block?
Content Filtering
Whitelists
Blacklists
Part of a bigger picture
Spam Trap Hits
Hard Bounces
RFC Compliance
Sender Reputation
Return Path Certification
Complaints Subscriber
Engagement
Sender Compliance
But I don’t spam…
• RBL
(Real-time Black List)
• DNSBL
(Domain Name Server Black List)
Types of blacklist
• SURBL
(Spam URL Real-time Blocklist)
Other types of blacklist
• bl.score.senderscore.com
• bl.spamcop.net
• cbl.abuseat.org
• psbl.surriel.com
• rp.invaluement.com
• sbl.spamhaus.org
• ubl.unsubscore.com
• xbl.spamhaus.org
Which ones are important?
Who is affected?
% IP addresses blacklisted by country
Czech Republic
Hong Kong
India China
Brazil
And when?
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
xbl.spamhaus.org
sbl.spamhaus.org
rp.invaluement.com
psbl.surriel.com
pbl.spamhaus.org
dnsbl.ahbl.org
cbl.abuseat.org
bl.spamcop.net
SE
P
OC
T
NO
V
DE
C
AU
G
JU
L
JU
N
MA
Y
AP
R
MA
R
FE
B
JA
N
Is a blacklisting so bad?
-45%
-40%
-35%
-30%
-25%
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
Spam
hau
s P
BL
Spam
hau
s SB
L
Spam
hau
s X
BL
Surr
iel
AH
BL
Ab
use
at C
BL
Gmail
Yahoo
Imp
act
on d
eliv
era
bili
ty
How do I know if I’m listed?
How do I know if I’m listed?
How do I know if I’m listed?
Why am I blacklisted?
What can I do about a blacklisting?
Preventing blacklisting
Preventing blacklisting
(It’s all about list hygiene)
Do not buy email addresses
Obtain and keep proof of permission
Send only to people who are reading your email
Employ rigorous bounce processing procedures
Have an obvious & working unsubscribe method
Provide a feedback mechanism (reply address)
Register with Abuse.net
Maintain clear & accurate domain information
Monitor & act on all complaints
