What Is Domain Reputation and How To Calculate It?

To operate anything in this digital world, you must create your unique identity, which we generally call a domain name. But like human beings, these domain name also carry their reputation and credibility with themselves. 

For instance, you look for Australian domains and then buy a reliable Domain Hosting in Australia to operate your website and emails. Then, these custom domains will get reputation scores from the web browsers, mailbox providers and internet service providers. 

The domain’s legitimacy, the email delivery rate, and more will be determined on that basis.

So, what precisely is the domain reputation and how is it calculated? To know this, keep reading this article.

What Is Domain Reputation?

In the complex world of email deliverability, Domain reputation refers to how mailbox providers perceive your domain or your branded domain’s overall “health”. Evaluating domain reputation by these providers highly influences whether your emails successfully land in recipients’ inboxes or get diverted to spam folders.

An intriguing aspect of domain reputation lies in its decentralised nature. Unlike a singular, universal reputation, each mailbox provider or receiver has its distinct way of gauging the reputation of your domain. You can liken this concept to human interactions, where individuals may form varied opinions about you based on your past actions or associations.

Factors Affecting the Domain Reputation Test

Domain reputation is determined by a composite of factors such as 

• Engagement Metrics
• Spam Complaint Rates
• Bounce Rates
• Spam Traps
• Authentication Protocols
• Consistency in Sending Patterns
• List Quality
• User Complaints and Feedback Loops
• Content Relevance
• Subscriber Permission
• Reputation of URLs and Links
• Recipient Engagement History

How To Calculate Domain Reputation?

1. Track and Performance: Firstly, the receivers monitor how your domain is used and the associated message performance.
2. Algorithmic Trust Scoring: ISPs use complex algorithms to score your domain, establishing trust levels.
3. Continuous Evaluation: Ongoing checks of domain reputation influence message acceptance or spam folder placement.
4. Diverse Reputations: Domains have varied reputations specific to each receiver’s proprietary scoring.
5. Sender’s Varied Perspective: Senders lack a universal domain reputation; it adapts to receiver-specific scoring.
6. Content and Volume Dynamics: Acknowledgment of diverse content and volume for different receivers.
7. Receiver-Specific Adaptation: Domain reputation adapts to the unique dynamics of each receiver.
8. Individual Scoring Impact: The outcome of individual scoring influences message treatment by each receiver.
9. Strategic Sender Engagement: The Sender’s strategies are based on each receiver’s reputation and expectations.
10. Cyberspace Multifaceted Nature: Domain reputation isn’t singular but dynamic, shaped by diverse scoring and receiver behaviours.

3 Free Tools to Check Domain Reputation

1. Google Postmaster:
   • Free tool (GPT) by Google for domain and IP reputation assessment.
   • It provides insights into sender score, spam rate, and encrypted traffic.
   • Specifically tracks reputation with Gmail users.
2. Talos Intelligence:
   • Cisco’s tool for IP and domain reputation.
   • It offers real-time threat data analysis for your IP, domain, or network owner.
   • Comprehensive insights into sender score and overall performance.
3. Barracuda Reputation Lookup:
   • It utilises Barracuda Central’s database.
   • Identifies domain score by checking IP or domain address.
   • Records have known spammers and good email practices.

Wrapping Up

Understanding the concept of domain reputation and time checking its score will help you to recognise the areas for improving the score. 

Remember, a higher domain reputation score means a higher mail delivery rate, higher user trust, reduced risk of blocking and more. So keep updated and work your best to improve these scores.