When it comes to protecting a company’s reputation, business owners tend to think first about matters like branding and customer service. But perhaps surprisingly, the reputation of a business’s IP address can be just as important. So, what is “IP reputation,” and how can it have such an influence on the success of a business’s online activities?
To begin with, an IP address is the unique number assigned to every device or service that connects to the Internet. Every one of these addresses accrues a history over time based on the kind of activity that originates from it. This history is the address’s IP reputation, and for internet service providers, it functions a lot like a credit score. Just as banks review a person’s credit history to determine if they are trustworthy, internet service providers and companies operating online monitor the reputation of IP addresses to determine if and how much they can be trusted. If an IP address is associated with consistent, responsible behavior, it will have a good reputation, and its activities won’t be flagged or blocked. But, if an IP address is associated with unwanted behaviors, for example, sending large amounts of spam email, it will earn a bad reputation.
Why is this important for businesses to be aware of? When a business uses an IP address with a bad reputation, the emails it sends can be automatically flagged as spam or even blocked altogether. This can lead to disruptions in everything from marketing campaigns to invoicing and customer support. Moreover, payment processors, cloud providers, and website hosts may also suspend interactions with IP addresses that appear risky. This can give rise to major communication issues, and even trust issues, between business and their partners and clients. This is especially relevant for businesses operating in high-scrutiny sectors like fintech, blockchain, or crypto, where trust and deliverability are essential. In the end, then, IP reputation and business reputation can be considered one and the same.
Best Practices for Maintaining Healthy IPs
To check the health of their IP addresses, businesses can use a number of different tools. Services like Google Postmaster Tools, Microsoft’s SNDS, and Sender Score, for example, can evaluate how mail services evaluate a particular IP, reporting whether messages are reaching inboxes or being flagged, thereby making it easy to identify potential reputation issues. In addition to reputation tools, businesses concerned with fraud risk can also rely on fraud scoring solutions like Sift, SEON, or Stripe Radar, which help detect suspicious activity and prevent unauthorized transactions.
IP Reputation Scanning is another method of assessing IP health. IPXO, for example, uses data consolidated from 80 databases to help hosting providers identify clients that are consistently spamming and ending up on blocklists. Many companies make reputation checks like these part of their routine IT maintenance in order to catch small issues before they cause large disruptions.
If a business discovers that it has a poor IP reputation, there are many routes to recovery. The simplest is just to review and revise the company’s email practices, keeping recipient lists up to date and ensuring that emails are sent only to those who have agreed to receive them. Though it may seem counterintuitive from a business perspective, making it easy for customers to unsubscribe from a mailing list can actually improve the overall health of a business in the long run. It is also important to monitor systems for malware, which can use hijacked company infrastructure to send spam or host malicious files. If problems persist, most major platforms make it possible to request removal from blocklists, though this process can take time and may require showing that the original cause has been fixed.
A well-maintained IP reputation acts as a practical safeguard for business operations. It reduces the chance of missed communications, limits interruptions to marketing efforts, and helps ensure that basic business processes run smoothly. By making IP reputation a regular part of IT maintenance, companies strengthen their ability to connect reliably with customers and partners and avoid unnecessary slowdowns or complications in their online operations.
