Spam in Gmail: when spam gets through or important mail ends up in spam
Gmail filters most spam reliably. Two things remain annoying: spam that still lands in the inbox, and real emails that disappear into the spam folder. Both have simple remedies.
Spam that gets through
Do not just delete spam. Select the email and click Report spam (the exclamation mark icon). It moves to the spam folder, and Gmail takes your report into account for similar emails.
If unwanted emails keep coming from the same sender, open one and choose Block «sender» from the three dots. Future emails from that address go straight to spam. The list of blocked addresses is under Settings → Filters and blocked addresses.
For advertising from legitimate companies, unsubscribing via Unsubscribe is the cleaner solution. For obvious spam it is not: clicking an unsubscribe link confirms to the sender that your address is active.
Important emails in spam
Emails from new contacts, from contact forms or from small companies with their own domain sometimes land in spam. So look into the folder once a week. A quick search helps: in:spam newer_than:7d.
It also helps to save important senders as contacts. Gmail classifies emails from contacts as spam less often.
When your own emails land in other people's spam
The problem can also run the other way: your emails arrive in your clients' spam. With your own domain, that is often due to missing SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. Your email or hosting provider sets these up. Since 2024, Google and other large providers explicitly require them for senders of many emails.
Spam from senders you decide on
Some senders are not classic spam, but you never want to see them in the inbox: pushy retailers, platforms you cannot unsubscribe from. There are two ways:
- A filter that deletes or archives: the email disappears but does not go to spam, so Gmail learns nothing.
- Blocking: the email goes to spam. Gmail takes that into account.
Keep track: under Filters and blocked addresses you see everything you already redirect.
