Google Postmaster Tools
Google's free dashboards for senders to Gmail: compliance with the sender guidelines, user-reported spam rate, IP and domain reputation, authentication, encryption and delivery errors.
What it means
You add the domain you authenticate with (SPF, DKIM or both) and verify it with a TXT or CNAME record; Postmaster Tools shows no data until the domain is verified. Its dashboards cover compliance status, spam rate, IP reputation, domain reputation, the Feedback Loop, authentication, encryption and delivery errors, all for mail sent to personal Gmail accounts.
The data is not real time (usually updated within 24 hours), uses UTC, and can be incomplete on low-volume days to protect user privacy. Several dashboards count only DKIM-authenticated mail. The Compliance status dashboard reports each requirement in Google's sender guidelines as compliant, needs work or no data found.
Read the spam rate with the reputation dashboards: a low spam rate can mean Gmail is already filing your mail in spam.
Related terms
On this site
Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
- Gmail Help: Postmaster Tools dashboardssupport.google.com
- Gmail Help: Set up Postmaster Toolssupport.google.com
- Google: Email sender guidelines FAQsupport.google.com
- M3AAWG Sender Best Common Practices, version 4.0 (August 2026)m3aawg.org
All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes