Frequently Asked Questions
Everything about email blacklists, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, sender reputation, and how EmailControl monitoring works — answered directly.
Four public DNS blacklists (Spamhaus ZEN, Barracuda, SORBS, SpamCop) against your mail server's IP, plus your SPF record, DKIM selectors, and DMARC policy. Each check is timestamped and stored so you can see exactly when something changed.
Compromised mailboxes sending spam, a shared IP with a bad neighbor, missing authentication records, stale mailing lists producing bounces, and recipient spam complaints. Blacklists pick these up automatically — often within hours.
Reverse your mail server's IP and query it against each blacklist zone — or let EmailControl do it on a schedule and alert you. Most businesses discover listings weeks late, after customers mention missing emails.
DNS records that authenticate your email. SPF lists allowed sending servers, DKIM cryptographically signs messages, and DMARC tells receivers what to do on failure. Google and Yahoo require all three for bulk senders.
Publish exactly one TXT record starting with v=spf1 that includes your real senders (mail server, Google Workspace, marketing tools) and ends with ~all or -all. Two SPF records is a permanent error, and +all makes the record worthless — EmailControl flags both.
Publish a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com like: v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:reports@yourdomain.com. Missing p= tags and typos are the most common failures. Start at p=none to observe, then move to quarantine or reject.
The common ones: default, google, selector1, selector2, k1, and dkim — covering Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and most transactional providers. If your provider uses a custom selector, contact us and we'll add it.
It's a weighted 0–100 composite: 50% blacklist cleanliness, 30% authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and 20% trend versus your previous checks. 80+ is healthy, 50–79 needs attention, below 50 is urgent.
Fix the root cause first — compromised account, open relay, or bad list hygiene — then submit a removal request at the blacklist operator's site (e.g. the Spamhaus Blocklist Removal Center). EmailControl alerts you when the delisting is visible in DNS.
No. It never touches your mail server and needs no credentials. It reads public DNS the same way receiving servers do — monitoring and alerting only.
No, and deliberately so: automatic DNS changes would require your registrar credentials. EmailControl is advisory — it tells you exactly what to publish and where, and verifies the fix on the next check.
An alert is created in your dashboard and emailed to you within 15 minutes, including which check failed, what changed, and a plain-language fix suggestion.
Yes — the Agency plan ($49/mo) supports unlimited domains with hourly checks, one year of history, and API access so you can pull status into your own client dashboards.
Yes: one domain, weekly checks, email alerts, and 7 days of history — free forever, no credit card required.