Email authentication is foundational. Getting it right will now be critical.
This morning, Google released an announcement about future new requirements for sending mail, and Yahoo will soon be implementing similar changes. These changes create a unified front in raising the bar for email senders, dramatically impacting email sending.
About 90% of all email sending is primarily business-to-consumer (B2C) communication. And most consumers have Gmail or Yahoo email accounts. If you’re a business sending to consumers with these accounts, you’ll need to meet these requirements, or your email won’t make it to the inbox.
Like Google’s new requirements, Yahoo’s updates will start rolling out in early 2024. These requirements for Yahoo senders include:
- Authenticating their email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
- Enable easy unsubscription
- Reduce unwanted emails in users’ inboxes
For more information on coming requirements and how to ensure that you’re set up for sending success, check out our detailed blog post.
Yahoo recognizes how important email authentication is and how it can create a safer email environment for everyone:
“Sending properly authenticated messages helps us to better identify and block billions of malicious messages and declutter our users’ inboxes. But we believe we can do even more to improve the quality of the emails our users receive as well as fight abuse and ultimately improve the experience for email users everywhere.”
Yahoo Announcement
Google also agrees that email authentication is one of the best ways to protect inboxes and stop bad actors:
“Many bulk senders don’t appropriately secure and configure their systems, allowing attackers to easily hide in their midst. To help fix that, we’ve focused on a crucial aspect of email security: the validation that a sender is who they claim to be.”
Google Announcement
Here at Valimail, we also believe that authentication is foundational to the security of the email ecosystem, and we are thrilled that Yahoo and Google are committed to these higher standards to protect users’ inboxes. As the inventor of DMARC-as-a-service, we’ve been advocates for email authentication and DMARC from day one.
“We’re so excited that Google and Yahoo are now both requiring email authentication. Email authentication is the single best defense against fraud and abuse. It provides protection globally, creates herd immunity, and protects against bad actors. Email authentication has been a best practice for decades, and this is a step in the right direction. Requiring it for senders will make a demonstrable change for good for everyone, especially consumers.”
Seth Blank, CTO of Valimail
Even though these changes won’t go into effect until early next year, now is the perfect time to get one step ahead and meet these requirements.
Take that first step by getting visibility into your sending domains. Valimail Monitor is a free tool you can use to see who is sending email as you and stop fraudulent email from being sent from your domain.