php mail going to bulk mail folders

php mail being labeled spam

[JavaReb]

Im wondering how to get around having our website emails being sent straight to yahoo (and probably hotmail) bulk mail folders. My website sends a mail message when a user registers to both the user and ourselves. Similar when a user changes their password/account info.

At present, the mail is pretty simple. For example:

mail($email,"Your my_domainname_here account has been updated",$user_message ,"From: my_domainname_here.com");

Ive come across a few other posts with the same problem, does anyone have any updated suggestions? Maybe changing the from header to include an email address?

How do message board sites format their email when they send out an email after you change your account info etc?

Im looking at some of the headers in my yahoo inbox and there is a piece called "Authentication-Results".

I think im going to have to dive in and learn about all the different email header elements...uggghh

[lammert]

Some tips:

Make the email look like a normal personal email. This includes a from address with a real name, not something like [e-mail], but:

From: John Stone <[e-mail]>

Second, add an SPF record in your DNS zone file. This is a record that tells which IP's are allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain. Be sure to add the IP of your webserver and the IP of your PC or your ISP's outgoing emailserver (whatever you are using). Hotmail, and probably Yahoo too check for spf records and wil use this information in the process while checking emails for spam.

Third, install a common used spam filter--Spamassassin for example--and see which spam signatures this software finds in your emails. Correct them.

After these steps, most emails should reach their destination.