How does the new Gmail spam-report weighting work?

Gmail's updated spam report weighting gives more influence to recent complaint patterns rather than treating all historical complaints equally. This means a sudden spike in spam reports has faster, more severe consequences than the same complaint rate spread over months.

The new model also considers complaint context. Reports from engaged users who previously opened your emails carry more weight than reports from users who never engaged. This helps Gmail distinguish between legitimate complaints and users who signed up then forgot.

For senders, this update requires closer monitoring of complaint rates after each campaign. A single poorly targeted send can trigger filtering more quickly than before. Maintaining consistently low complaint rates matters more than ever, and recovery from complaint spikes may take longer as Gmail's system remembers the pattern.