Guides / Google Workspace emails going to spam (yours or theirs)

Part of: Email not sending, receiving or syncing

Last reviewed 6 Oct 2026 · By Harry

Google Workspace emails going to spam (yours or theirs)

Your company emails landing in recipients’ spam, or legitimate mail in your Gmail spam folder? SPF, DKIM, DMARC, sender rules and Workspace admin fixes.

Two tickets get filed under "Gmail spam problem". In the first, customers say your invoices land in their junk folder. In the second, your own users find legitimate supplier mail in Gmail's spam folder. Both are about trust signals, and neither is fixed by waiting. Check Google Workspace status only if mail has stopped arriving entirely — then use Gmail not receiving email instead.

Your outbound mail lands in spam

Since 2024, Google and Yahoo have required bulk senders to authenticate mail properly, and receiving systems everywhere have become stricter. Everything below applies whether the recipient uses Gmail, Microsoft 365 or anything else.

1. Check a real header. Send a message to a personal Gmail address, open it, and choose Show original. Gmail reports SPF, DKIM and DMARC as PASS or FAIL at the top. That single screen is your diagnosis.
2. SPF. Your domain's SPF TXT record must include Google (include:_spf.google.com) and every other service that sends as your domain — your CRM, invoicing system, website forms, ticketing tool. Only one SPF record is allowed per domain, and it must stay within the DNS lookup limit of ten.
3. DKIM. In the Admin console → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Authenticate email, generate a DKIM key, publish the TXT record in DNS, and click Start authentication. Many tenants publish the record and forget the final click. Third-party senders need their own DKIM set up on your domain.
4. DMARC. Publish a DMARC record at _dmarc.yourdomain, starting with p=none and a reporting address, then move to quarantine or reject once reports show all legitimate senders pass. Without DMARC, receivers trust you less.
5. Alignment. DMARC needs the visible From domain to align with the SPF or DKIM domain. A marketing platform sending "from" your domain but signing with its own domain fails alignment.
6. Content and behaviour. Link shorteners, image-only emails, attachments from new domains, and sudden spikes in volume all raise spam scores. Bulk mail should go through a proper sending service with unsubscribe headers, not from a user's mailbox.
7. Reputation. Google Postmaster Tools shows domain reputation and spam rate for mail sent to Gmail users once you verify the domain. A rising spam-complaint rate explains sudden spam placement.

Legitimate mail lands in your Gmail spam

1. Mark as not spam. Teach the filter, and ask users to do the same. One click per user helps that user.
2. Create a filter. Users can create a Gmail filter for the sender's address or domain with Never send it to Spam.
3. Admin approved senders. In the Admin console → Gmail → Spam, phishing and malware → Spam, add an approved senders list for trusted partners. Be careful — bypassing spam filters for a domain also bypasses protection if that domain is spoofed. Prefer requiring authentication on the approved sender.
4. Inbound gateways. If mail passes through a third-party filter before Google, configure the inbound gateway setting so Gmail evaluates the original sender IP, not the gateway. Misconfigured gateways make every message look suspicious.
5. Tell the sender. If the sender's SPF, DKIM or DMARC fail (check Show original), the real fix is on their side. Send them the header results.

Admin checks

• Email log search in the Admin console shows whether a message arrived, which verdict it got and why. Use it before guessing.
• Compliance and content rules can route or quarantine mail. Check admin quarantine for messages users swear never arrived.
• Forwarding. Auto-forwarding from another system to Gmail can break SPF; ARC and DKIM help. Forwarded mail landing in spam is common.
• Recently changed DNS. Moving web hosts or DNS providers often drops the SPF, DKIM or DMARC records. Compare the live DNS against what you expect.

When to escalate

Escalate to Google only when email log search shows unexpected verdicts despite passing authentication across many senders, or when Workspace status shows a Gmail incident. Most spam-placement tickets end with a DNS record, a DKIM button, or a sender who needs to fix their own authentication.

Related status pages

• Google Workspace / Gmail
• Google Cloud

Related guides

• Gmail not receiving email in Google Workspace: what to check
• Exchange Online mail delivery delay or messages stuck in queue
• Outlook not receiving email or empty Inbox: Exchange or the client?

FAQ

Why are my company emails going to spam?

Usually because SPF, DKIM or DMARC are missing or failing, a third-party sender is not authorised for your domain, or content and volume look like bulk mail. Check Show original on a test message to Gmail.

How do I turn on DKIM in Google Workspace?

In the Admin console go to Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, Authenticate email. Generate a key, publish the TXT record in DNS, then click Start authentication.

How do I stop a trusted sender going to Gmail spam?

Mark messages as not spam and create a filter with Never send it to Spam. Admins can add approved senders, ideally requiring sender authentication.

Is Gmail spam placement an outage?

No. If mail arrives in the spam folder, delivery works. Fix authentication, filters or content. Check Workspace status only if mail stops arriving entirely.