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.
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.