Email Blacklisting on Dedicated or VPS Servers
What to do when Blacklisted on Dedicated or VPS Servers-

Email blacklisting can intervene with your ability to send emails from your servers IP address. There are many email filtering services availablethat blacklist IP addresses. They each have their own rules for blacklisting an IP address. They also each have their own procedures for getting removed from the blacklist. If you are on a VPS or Dedicated server, you have your own IP address. You will be responsible for removing it from any blacklists it may be on.
Identifying the Blacklist you are on
First you have to know who exactly is blacklisting you so as to get removed from the black list. Their are several sites that maintain email black lists. The Blacklists are then implemented by email filtering software on the email servers who subscribe to the list.
Check Bounce Back messages
Usually the best way to identify which blacklists you are on is to read the bounce back message of any email that was rejected because of a blacklist. These messages are meant to give you information on why your email was rejected.
Use a blacklist checking service
You can use a 3rd party service to check if your IP address is on any blacklist. However most services are not able to check every blacklist
Getting Removed from the Blacklist
Getting removed from a blacklist usually involves contacting the organization that has your IP address blacklisted and following their procedure for removal.
The following are some links to the blacklist removal procedures for some common email providers:
- Microsoft: https://support.live.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsmsbl3&ct=eformts&scrx=1
- Spamhaus: https://www.spamhaus.org/lookup/
- Gmail: https://support.google.com/mail/contact/msgdelivery
- AOL: http://postmaster.aol.com/SupportRequest.php
- Trend Micro: Send an email to rbl@mail-abuse.com
Prevention
Here are a few tips to prevent blacklisting so as to to make sure you don't get blacklisted again:
- You must use strong passwords and monitor your server for malware.
- Some services may block you based on the number of emails sent out so don't send to much email at once. The best practice is to limit bulk mailings into small batches and send individual emails out with a few second delay between them.
- Make sure your SPF and DKIM records are set correctly for your domains.