Google just killed my email for sending 367 cold emails over 2 weeks — heres what happened
built an outreach pipeline. scraped 1000+ agencies. sent 367 personalized emails over 14 days at 25/day with 2.5 minute delays between each.
today google restricted my entire gmail account for "sending unwanted content."
no warning. no throttling. just gone. SMTP, IMAP, everything — locked out.
what i was actually sending
each email was individually customized. subject line referenced the recipients domain. body mentioned specific SEO findings from scanning their actual website — missing alt text count, page speed score, heading hierarchy issues.
these werent template blasts. each one took the scanner 10 seconds to generate personalized findings.
the numbers that triggered it
- 367 total emails over ~14 days
- 25/day average (well under gmails 500/day limit)
- 2.5 minute delay between sends
- app password authentication (not OAuth)
- all sent from one gmail account
my theory: its not the volume, its the pattern. 25 emails to unknown recipients every day, most of whom never reply, some who probably marked it as spam — thats exactly what a spammer looks like to googles systems.
what i should have done differently
- used a dedicated sending service (sendgrid, postmark) instead of raw gmail SMTP
- warmed up the sending address gradually
- used a custom domain instead of @gmail.com
- monitored bounce rates and spam complaints
the silver lining
this happened the same day i diversified away from cold email. i posted 7 IH articles, packaged a lead list for $19, built a chrome extension. if email was my only channel, id be dead.
diversification isnt just about revenue streams. its about not having a single point of failure.
landing page: https://vemtrac-outreach.pages.dev
lead list ($19): https://vemtrac-outreach.pages.dev/leads
free sample: https://vemtrac.gumroad.com/l/blole
Sorry that happened. Consumer Gmail is a rough fit for cold outreach even at 25/day. The advertised quota is not what actually gets you locked; engagement and complaint signals usually are.
Sending from @gmail.com means you do not control SPF, DKIM, or DMARC on that address. Providers treat that differently from a domain you authenticate end to end. Personalized findings still look like a campaign if most people never reply and a few hit Report spam.
If you rebuild, put mail on a custom domain first. Warm it slowly, keep hard bounces under about 2%, and watch inbox vs Promotions vs spam separately from open rate. Opens can look fine while half the volume never hits Primary. Start DMARC at p=none with a rua address for a couple of weeks before you raise volume, and keep transactional mail off that same domain so one cold campaign cannot take down password resets.
Oof, thats rough but honestly not surprising — Gmail watches patterns more than raw volume. Twenty-five strangers/day with near-zero replies looks like a spammer even if each email was handcrafted. Separate domain + gradual warmup + a channel that isnt your only lifeline (sounds like IH saved you here) is the combo.