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IP Blacklist: 5 Tools to Check and Steps to Remove Blacklist

ByMohamed Natheem

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You work hard to create valuable content for your email subscribers, hoping your subject line will win them over and they’ll read your email.

But, either your emails bounce back or end up in the spam folder.

The most likely reason? A bad IP reputation. Your IP address may be blacklisted, and hence, email servers are not accepting your emails, marking you as a spammer.

Is all hope lost? Not really. You can do an IP blacklist check and take the necessary steps to delist yourself. Let us walk you through the entire process.

Table of contents

What is an IP blacklist?

IP blacklist is a database that contains malicious IPs that send spam or malicious emails to users. People hiding behind these IPs don’t have email etiquette. They send random emails hoping someone will buy from them.

Email providers use IP blacklists to prevent spam emails entering their mail servers. These IP blacklists are updated in real-time to prevent spam emails.

Reasons why IP gets blacklisted

IP blacklisting reasons

These are a few reasons why IPs get on blacklists. If you are an entrepreneur or marketer using email marketing to scale your business, you should check the IP blacklists to verify whether your IP is listed. Want to know why we stress that? Let us look at the reasons.

Why is IP blacklist checking important?

An IP blacklist plays a crucial role in email marketing.

It eliminates spammers who don’t provide quality content. So, you’ll have less number of people competing for your users’ attention. But it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

Even genuine email marketers like yourself can end up on these blacklists. So, you’ve to regularly check your IP and get it removed if you’re on one of those dreaded lists.

Or else, you’ll be seen as no different than these spammers, and all your hard work will go to waste. Your revenue will decrease, and you may be forced to believe that “Email marketing doesn’t work!”.

Check your IP against the blacklists when,

✔️ Your emails frequently land on spam folders.

✔️ Your bounce rate increases

✔️ You receive failure notifications

💡 Related guide: How to avoid email blacklisting?

So now you know the importance of these lists, let’s discuss how to check if your sender IP has ended up in one of these lists.

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5 IP blacklist checker tools you can use

If you think your IP is blacklisted in one of the available blacklist databases, you can use the IP blacklist checker tools to do a quick checkup.

1. Spamhaus

👉 Go to Spamhaus.

👉 Enter your IP address in the search bar and click Lookup.

👉 A “[your IP] has no issues” message will be displayed if your IP has no issues.

However, if it shows your IP on its blacklist database, then your IP is blacklisted, and you’ve to take action to remove it.

2. MXToolbox

MXToolbox checks your IP against over 100 DNS based email blacklists.

👉 Go to MXToolbox.

👉 Enter your IP address in the search bar and click 'Blacklist check.'

The tool will return the status of your IP blacklist.

3. SORBS

👉 Go to SORBS.

👉 Enter your IP address, netblock, or hostname.

👉 Enter the CAPTCHA code entered in the respective box.

👉 Click on Check Entry.

4. Barracuda

👉 Go to Barracuda Central.

👉 Enter the IP address and click Check Reputation.

The tool will return the status "The IP address [Your IP] is not currently listed as "poor" on the Barracuda Reputation System." - when your IP address is not blacklisted.

5. DNSBL

DNSBL compares your IP against hundreds of blacklists and notifies you if your IP is included in any of them.

👉 Go to DNSBL.

👉 Enter your IP address in the input field and click 'CHECK THIS IP' button.

The list of blacklists where your IP is listed and is not listed can be seen there.

Your IP has been blocked? Don't worry. We'll go over how to take your IP address off the blacklist in the section after this.

How to remove my IP from IP blacklists?

There are two strategies to remove your IP from IP blacklists:

  1. Short-term strategy
  2. Long-term strategy

Let’s discuss both of them in detail.

1. Short-term strategy

To see effects in the short term, you’ve to get yourself delisted from these IP blacklists. You have to check if you’re listed in their databases. And then, you’ve to contact them and submit a reason why you think you’re innocent and do not deserve to be there.

One thing to note is that if your IP is “slightly guilty” and sent relatively few spam emails, the punishment period will be lower. However, if you’re “highly guilty” and actively sent spam emails, the removal period will be much longer. So tough luck for you if you’re in the “highly guilty” category.

However, to accelerate the removal process, you can present your case with supporting data and increase the chances of getting delisted quickly. All in all, their goal is not to stop you from sending emails but to stop spammers.

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2. Long-term strategy

The best way to deal with a disaster is to avoid it. So, to avoid getting blacklisted on these platforms, you’ve to establish and follow good email etiquette.

You can start by establishing a sunset policy and removing unengaged users. Next, you can build an email cadence and keep your users happy with your email frequency.

Few tips to keep your IP away from blacklists

✔️ Authenticate your email

✔️ Improve your sender reputation

✔️ Use verified email lists

✔️ Be mindful of the email content

✔️ Use secure mail server

✔️ Follow proper email etiquette

✔️ Segment your email list

✔️ Add an unsubscribe link

✔️ Have a valid PTR record

✔️ Use static IP address

Takeaways

IP blacklists are not necessarily your enemies, but you still need to keep your eyes open to check if you’ve accidentally become a victim of one of such blacklists. You’re unlikely to end up in one if you follow great email etiquette but unfortunately if you end up in one, you’ve to take action to resolve it quickly before things get out of hand.

One of the main reasons for ending up on such lists is having a bad IP reputation. It’s a number that ISPs and third-party blacklists provide. The higher the number, the better your email deliverability. To know more about evading this crisis, check out our guide on IP reputation.

What you should do next

Hey there, thanks for reading till the end. Here are 3 ways we can help you grow your business:

  1. Talk to an email expert. Need someone to take your email marketing to the next level? Mailmodo’s experts are here for you. Schedule a 30-minute email consultation. Don’t worry, it’s on the house. Book a meet here.

  2. Send emails that bring higher conversions. Mailmodo is an ESP that helps you to create and send app-like interactive emails with forms, carts, calendars, games, and other widgets for higher conversions. Get started for free.

  3. Get smarter with our email resources. Explore all our knowledge base here and learn about email marketing, marketing strategies, best practices, growth hacks, case studies, templates, and more. Access guides here.

What should you do next?

Thanks for reading till the end. Here are 3 ways we can help you grow your business:

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Do better email marketing with Mailmodo

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Talk to an email expert

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