IP reputation monitoring

Your sending IP address is one of the most significant factors in email deliverability. Mailbox providers use IP reputation as a primary signal to decide whether to accept, filter, or reject your messages. InboxEagle aggregates IP reputation data from multiple sources — Google Postmaster Tools, third-party reputation feeds, and blacklist databases — so you can monitor every IP in your sending pool.

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Accessing IP reputation data

There are two entry points for IP reputation data:

1. Standalone IP lookup — Navigate to IP Reputation in the left sidebar (or app.inboxeagle.com/ip-address). Enter any IP address to see its reputation profile.

2. Deliverability dashboard — The IP address panel on the deliverability dashboard lists all IPs observed sending for your tracked brands or connected accounts within the selected date range.

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IP detail view

Clicking an IP address (from either entry point) opens the detail view, which shows:

Section	What you see
Reputation summary	Current overall reputation: High, Medium, Low, or Bad
Postmaster reputation	Google Postmaster Tools reputation for this IP (if data is available)
Blacklist status	Whether this IP appears on major email blacklists (DNSBLs)
ASN information	Autonomous System Number, network owner (e.g. Amazon, Google, Microsoft), and country
Associated senders	Other brands or senders observed using this IP (for shared IPs)
Volume share	This IP’s proportion of your observed send volume
Historical trend	Reputation signal over the past 90 days

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Shared vs dedicated IPs

Shared IPs

Shared IPs are used by multiple senders, typically as part of an ESP’s shared sending pool. Most low-to-medium volume senders use shared IPs.

Advantages: Warmed up by ESP; no warm-up period required; suitable for volumes under ~50,000 emails/month.

Disadvantages: Your reputation is influenced by other senders on the same IP. A bad actor on your shared pool can affect your deliverability without any action on your part.

How to identify shared IPs in InboxEagle: The Associated senders section in the IP detail view lists other brands observed sending from this IP. A large list of senders confirms it is a shared IP.

Dedicated IPs

Dedicated IPs are assigned exclusively to your account. You have complete control over and responsibility for their reputation.

Advantages: Full reputation ownership; no cross-contamination from other senders; better long-term deliverability at high volume.

Disadvantages: Must be warmed up gradually from zero before sending high volumes; if you send irregularly, the IP cools down and needs re-warming.

Note

If you are on shared IPs and experiencing unexplained deliverability issues, the first step is to check the Associated senders panel. If the IP is associated with high-risk senders or shows a recent reputation drop that does not correlate with any change on your part, contact your ESP to request a different IP or upgrade to dedicated IPs.

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Reputation levels

InboxEagle maps reputation to four levels:

Level	What it means	Typical action
High	Strong positive reputation; mail is well-received	Continue current practices
Medium	Moderate reputation; some filtering possible	Review list hygiene and authentication
Low	Reputation problems; expect increased spam folder placement	Pause high-volume sends; investigate immediately
Bad	Severe reputation damage; mail likely blocked or rejected	Halt sending; investigate root cause; contact ESP

Google Postmaster Tools (if connected) provides Gmail-specific IP reputation signals. Other providers (Yahoo, Outlook) use their own internal scores that are not publicly visible, but blacklist status is a reasonable proxy.

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Blacklist monitoring

InboxEagle checks each IP against major email DNS blacklists (DNSBLs), including:

• Spamhaus (SBL, XBL, PBL, DBL)
• Barracuda Reputation Block List (BRBL)
• Sorbs
• SpamCop
• And others

Blacklist status:

Status	Meaning
Clean	Not listed on any monitored blacklists
Listed	Appears on one or more blacklists (shown with list names)
Unknown	Lookup could not be completed

If your IP is listed on Spamhaus or Barracuda, it will cause delivery failures at many major ISPs. Take the following steps:

Note

1. Identify the reason for the listing by visiting the DNSBL’s lookup page
2. Address the underlying cause (source of spam, misconfiguration, compromised account)
3. Submit a delisting request through the DNSBL’s removal portal
4. Monitor for re-listing after removal — without fixing the root cause, IPs are often re-listed quickly

Contact your ESP immediately if a shared IP is listed — they are responsible for managing shared pool reputation.

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Monitoring IP health over time

The reputation trend chart on the IP detail view shows how reputation signals have changed over the past 90 days. Key patterns to watch:

• Steady downward trend — Gradually worsening reputation; look for increasing complaint rates or sending to stale list segments
• Sudden drop — An event caused a reputation hit: a spam trap hit, a large complaint spike, or a security incident on the IP
• Recovery after a drop — Reputation is improving; continue clean sending practices and allow time for recovery (typically 4–8 weeks)

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IP reputation and Google Postmaster Tools

If you have Google Postmaster Tools connected, InboxEagle can show Gmail-specific IP reputation data directly on the IP detail view. Google classifies IPs into four buckets:

Postmaster classification	Meaning
High	Strong sending history; minimal filtering
Medium/Low	Some filtering; investigate complaint rates
Bad	Significant blocking at Gmail; immediate action required
No reputation	Not enough data (new IP or very low volume)

New dedicated IPs always start with “No reputation” and build up over the IP warm-up period (typically 4–8 weeks of gradually increasing volume).

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Next steps

• Deliverability dashboard overview — Aggregate view with IP panel
• Sending domains — Domain-level reputation and authentication
• Authenticate your sending domain — SPF, DKIM, DMARC setup
• Google Postmaster Tools integration — Gmail-specific reputation data

Check IP reputation →