Email Verification: The Complete, No-Nonsense Guide (2025)
What “Email Verification” Really Means Email verification is a layered process that reduces bounces, blocks disposable sign-ups, and protects sender reputation. It is not a single step but a pipeline: Syntax validation — RFC 5321/5322 formatting sanity checks. Domain checks — DNS existence, MX targets, and SPF/DKIM/DMARC posture awareness. Mailbox existence — lightweight SMTP handshake to see if a mailbox is likely to accept mail (without sending content). Risk & quality scoring — role accounts, disposable providers, free vs. corporate, catch-all domains. Feedback loop — hard/soft bounce ingestion + suppression list hygiene. Get these right and you ship fewer OTPs into the void, cut fraud, and keep your IPs/domains out of blocklists. Quick Wins (Do These First) Reject obviously invalid formats client-side and server-side (never trust only the browser). ...