2024 New Google updates
How will this affect your outreach?
Everyone is freaking out about the new updates Google is releasing and wondering if this is finally going to be the one that will kill cold email.
The truth is it won't. But…
You are going to have to make changes to your outbound system otherwise you will find that your emails won't be going anywhere but spam.
In this guide I’ll go through the 3 of the updates and how to prepare for them.
P.S. The 3rd update is probably going to be the BIGGEST challenge yet.
Authentification 🛡️
This is going to be centering authentication and validation. DMARK & DKIM records are going to be enforced and have to be set up properly.
If your domain’s DNS records are not setup correctly, they will lose a lot of sender reputation and end up going to spam much more often
Solution:
- You will need to go to your domain registrar and add the two records, here’s how to do it.
Add DMARC record 📂 :
- For Type select → TXT
- For Host enter → _dmarc
- For Data enter → v=DMARC1; p=reject;
To check use this tool
Add DKIM record 📂 :
- For Type select TXT
- For Host enter google._domainkey
- Then in a 2nd tab go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail
- Select Authenticate email
- Select GENERATE NEW RECORD
- Copy the TXT record value:
- It should look something like this : v=DKIM1;.....
- Back on your domain registrar and paste the TXT record value into Data
- After a bit of time (24 hours maximum), in the 2nd tab click
START AUTHENTICATING
**More info here on DNS Records**
One Click Unsubscribe link 🔗
This is mainly for email marketers in the B2C space, you are going to have to have a one-click unsubscribe link.
If they can’t find this in the contents of the email, you will probably go to spam and it may lead to your domain/IP being blacklisted.
Solution:
Depending on your sending tool, you're going to need to add this link.
Most people are using Instatnly.ai, so here is a step by step on how to do it there.
- Your going to need to go on Campaigns
- Click Sequences
- Then at the bottom, you click the plus sign, More Rich
- Then Click the option on the left, Insert unsubscribe link
NEW SPAM RATE THRESHOLD 🚨
This is going to end a lot of cold email marketers, especially ones not doing it correctly.
0.3%
That's the new threshold.
So if you send out 1000 emails and 3 people click the spam button, your sending reputation is destroyed and your emails won’t reach the inbox.
This threshold is incredibly low and is going to be very difficult to stay under, especially if you are doing high volume which more people are.
Solution:
Stay out of spam.
There are many ways of doing this, and with the low threshold you are going to have to implement as many of the precautions as you can.
Since there are quite a few methods and there would be no way to fit them all in this guide, I’ll show you one of the main ways to stay out of spam.
Email Verification ✅ :
Understanding the stages of validation
When you submit a lead list for validation it can return 3 main variables:
- Valid
- These are the ONLY contacts you’ll upload to your campaign as they were successfully checked and are deliverable
- Catch-all/Risky/Unverifiable
- These you will NOT upload to your campaign, unless you verified them with a tool specifically made for validating catch-alls, such as Scrubby
- Invalid
- These aren’t real email addresses or email addresses that have been misspelt. DON’T upload to your campaign
MillionVerifier
- Download the lead list you’ve put together as .CSV
- Open MillionVerifier and go to ‘Email Verification’
- Click on ‘Select File’ and upload your lead list
- Click on ‘Start Verify’ and wait for it to process
- Click on ‘Download Reports’ and keep only ‘Good’
- Import it to your lead list URL on Google Sheets
NeverBounce
- Download the lead list you’ve put together as .CSV
- Open NeverBounce and go to ‘Clean’
- Click on ‘Add List’
- Upload your lead list
- Click on ‘Clean My List’, select your payment method and wait for it to process
- Click on ‘Download’ and keep only ‘Valids’
- Import it to your lead list URL on Google Sheets
Scrubby
- Download the list of ‘Catch-all/Risky/Unverifiable’ from MillionVerifier or NeverBounce
- Open Scrubby and click ‘Upload’
- Select the column with the emails and click on ‘Done’
- Wait for the list to process
- Click on ‘Download Valids Only’
- Import it to your lead list URL on Google Sheets
What should you do 🫵
These are the updates they announced now, so there is a chance it could get better or worse in the future.
The point is no one can ever be certain, but you can be prepared.
If you would like to learn more about cold email or want to know how we have built systems for other clients that prioritise deliverability which in turn optimises conversions, feel free to book a call in with me HERE and I’d be happy to help your business with this.
All the best,
Omar G
Kensington, London
Our Website → Advantage Tactics