why does my mail goto spam

These are the basic steps that one needs to follow while configuring a mail server to make sure that the mails don’t land up in spam/junk mail folder of the reciever

1. Senders hostname should match the mx records of the server sending the mails

a. Example:

i. if I am sending a mail from xxx@tutorvista.com or aaa@tutorvistaonline.com using the aa.bb.cc.90 then the mx records for the server should have tutorvista.com and appropriate SPF records.

2. The IP should not be blacklisted on the receiving server.

3. The 4xx errors and 5xx errors to be handled properly.

4. Implementation of Domain keys would solve the issue to an extent.

5. Make sure the return path of the email is to an existing domain which accepts mails.

6. The senders ip should not be a local intranet ip.. i.e make sure the MTA is not a local machine running qmail/sendmail. It should relay mail from a static IP that has

7. DNS/rDNS configured.

8. Send a mail to mail-abuse-bulk@cc.yahoo-inc.com to get your domain/IP on their whitelist.

9. Make sure to check if the relaying server IP is not on the CBL list.

10. Try to check the MX & SPF records using online tools available on

a. openspf.org

b. mxtoolbox.com

c. dnsstuff.com

11. Make sure the HELO response from your host doesn’t contain things like localhost.localdomain etc. and it contains a valid response

a. telnet your-mailserver.com 25 would show you the HELO response

12. useful reading

a. http://www.innovation-station.net/archives/2007/03/29/hotmail-and-my-spf-nightmare/

b. http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys