How does Gmail’s “engagement-based filtering” work?

Gmail's engagement-based filtering personalizes filtering decisions based on how each individual recipient interacts with your mail.

Positive signals include opens, clicks, replies, moving to inbox from spam, starring, and adding to contacts. These actions teach Gmail that you want mail from that sender.

Negative signals include marking as spam, deleting without reading, and consistently ignoring messages. These teach Gmail to deprioritize that sender.

The result is personalized placement. The same message from the same sender may land in inbox for one Gmail user and spam for another, based on their individual interaction history.

This system rewards senders who provide value to recipients. High engagement improves deliverability. Low engagement erodes it.

Gmail learns what each user values. Your inbox placement depends on whether you have earned that user's attention.