Glossary
Domain reputation
How mailbox providers rate a sending domain, based on its history of complaints, bounces, spam traps and authentication.
ValidReach Team · Updated 2026-10-26
In practice
It builds slowly and falls quickly. A new domain has no history, so providers watch early volume closely. It is tracked separately from the reputation of the IP address you send from.
Providers show some of this in postmaster dashboards; read them, because they are the closest thing to a direct reading.
Verification and sending
Hard bounces to non-existent addresses and spam traps both come from the list. Verifying before you send removes the first and lowers the risk of the second.