Does removing all links or images help?

You've probably heard this one before. Strip out all the links. Remove every image. Keep it plain. That way the spam filter won't have anything to latch onto. It sounds logical, and honestly, it comes from a real fear of doing something wrong.

But it's a myth. Removing links and images doesn't help your deliverability. Not even a little.

Spam filters aren't counting your images and flagging you at some threshold. They're looking at much bigger signals: whether your domain has proper authentication in place (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), whether your sender reputation is healthy, whether the people on your list actually want to hear from you, and whether your engagement signals are trending in the right direction.

A beautifully designed email with five links and a hero image, sent to an engaged list from an authenticated domain, will land in the inbox just fine. A plain-text email with zero links, sent from a domain with no DMARC record to a cold list full of unengaged addresses, will still go to spam. The links weren't the problem. They never were.

What stripping your content does do is hurt the reader experience. Your email becomes harder to navigate, harder to act on, and harder to understand. You're essentially punishing your subscribers for a deliverability problem that isn't caused by them or by your design choices.

If your emails are landing in spam, the fix is worth finding properly. Check your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Look at your bounce rates and complaint rates. Think about whether your list is engaged or just large. Those are the real levers.

You can run a quick check on your authentication setup with our free SPF Checker. If you're not sure where your spam problem is actually coming from, our SOS hotline is free and we'll help you figure it out.