Email deliverability for link outreach

1. Use a separate sending domain

Register a second domain that's clearly related to your brand, such as getmargin.com or marginhq.com. Avoid hyphens and odd TLDs that look disposable. Point the domain's website at your main site so anyone who checks it sees a real company. Then create one mailbox on it with a real person's name. Most teams use Google Workspace for this; read Workspace setup, limits and risks for outreach before you pick a provider.

Why bother: mailbox providers judge reputation per domain. If outreach on the second domain gets a few complaints, your main domain's customer email isn't affected.

2. Authenticate it: SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Record	Where	What it says
SPF	TXT on @	Which servers may send for this domain, e.g. v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all.
DKIM	TXT on a selector like google._domainkey	A public key receivers use to check your messages' signatures. Your mail provider generates it.
DMARC	TXT on _dmarc	What to do with mail that fails, and where to send reports, e.g. v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourbrand.com.
MX	@	Where replies go. Without it, editors' replies bounce.

The SPF and DMARC generator builds the first and third. Google's email sender guidelines list the current requirements.

3. Ramp the mailbox slowly

A new domain has no history. Sending dozens of cold emails on day one looks exactly like a spammer. A gradual ramp builds trust:

Day	Pitches per day (BacklinkGenie's ramp)
1	4
7	10
14	16
21	24
28	30
33	35

Spread sends through the working day rather than in one burst. The warmup calculator shows the full schedule and monthly capacity.

4. Only send to addresses that exist

Bounces are one of the fastest ways to lose reputation. Verify every address before it gets a pitch, and skip prospects whose addresses come back invalid or unknown. Treat catch-all domains with care: they accept everything, so a "valid" result doesn't mean a person reads it. Our guide to finding the right editor's email covers how to get an address worth verifying in the first place, and the email permutator lists the likely formats.

5. Keep complaints near zero

• Pitch only posts where your product genuinely fits. Irrelevant pitches get reported. The site-selection worksheet helps you decide.
• Write like a person: plain text, no tracking-heavy HTML, at most one or two links, no attachments.
• Don't use spammy subjects, fake "Re:" lines or hype. Test with the subject line tester.
• Stop after two follow-ups, and stop immediately when someone asks.
• Keep a do-not-contact list across every campaign and mailbox.

6. Watch the signals

Read your DMARC reports for authentication failures, track bounce and reply rates per mailbox, and pause a mailbox if bounces or complaints jump. Google Postmaster Tools shows domain reputation once you send enough volume to Gmail.

Check the email and the results

Authentication gets you to the inbox; the email and the list keep you there. Before a campaign to US inboxes, run a draft through the CAN-SPAM checker so the signature carries a postal address and an opt-out. After each batch, put the numbers into the bounce rate calculator: under 2% is healthy, above 5% means stop and verify.

Or let us run the plumbing

On paid BacklinkGenie plans, each mailbox comes with its own domain, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX set up, ramps automatically, verifies every address, keeps a shared suppression list, and pauses itself if bounces climb. Your main domain never sends a cold email. For the rest of the process, from prospect list to reply, read the link building outreach guide. See how it works, and how we handle opt-outs in our privacy policy and terms.