What does this score measure?
The score does not promise Gmail inbox. It grades the sending domain’s authentication and a coarse MX check out of 100. Weights: SPF 20, DKIM 20, DMARC 20, MX 15, PTR 10, Spamhaus/SpamCop/Barracuda 10. Pasting a message adds 5 points for hygiene; otherwise the grade is scaled to the checks that ran.
Mail-Tester.com scores a message you send to them. IPTOOL does not receive mail. It does the same job from DNS and the MX IP — and the outbound IP is often not the MX A record (Google Workspace, SES, SendGrid). Then run PTR and DNSBL on the real SMTP IP.
Examples
- Weights
SPF/DKIM/DMARC 20 eachMX 15, PTR 10, DNSBL 10.- Caveat
not a Gmail folderNo message is sent.
Why do SPF, DKIM and DMARC dominate?
Receivers look at authority first. SPF lists who may send as you; +all voids it, -all is the expected policy. DKIM signs outbound mail at selector._domainkey. DMARC applies none / quarantine / reject when they do not align. p=none only monitors; it does not stop spoofing.
If common selectors (google, selector1, s1, default, k1, mail) are empty, DKIM is a warning and zero points. Type your real selector. The tool follows provider CNAMEs.
MX, PTR and DNSBLs
No MX means the name cannot receive mail. PTR is IP → hostname and hostname back to the same IP (FCrDNS). Gmail wants PTR on the outbound IP. This tool uses the first MX’s A record; if you send from another hop the grade can mislead.
DNSBLs here are Spamhaus ZEN, SpamCop and Barracuda — not every list. Delist on that list’s own form. Clean means not on these three, not that the IP is innocent.
Message source
Optional. Paste “Show original” / raw source. The tool looks for DKIM-Signature, From alignment, shorteners and classic spam tokens. Turkish copy is not penalised. List-Unsubscribe is what Gmail wants on bulk; missing it is a note, not a hard cut here.
Grades: 90+ solid identity, 75–89 small gaps (often ~all or p=none), below 60 missing records or a listing. Fix SPF/DKIM/DMARC first, then PTR on the outbound IP.