How to Avoid Blacklisting by Changing Your IP Address

Sometimes a country, email provider, or spam filter may place an IP address on a blacklist, which can disrupt email delivery or site accessibility. Whether changing your IP address will help depends on the type of blacklisting and the hosting environment you're using.

Understanding Email Blacklisting

If you're experiencing email blacklisting, it is often tied to one of the following:

• Your local computer IP4
• Your domain
• Your server IP address

Bluehost cannot intervene in blacklists that specifically identify your local IP or domain. The resolution depends entirely on whether you're using shared hosting, VPS, or a dedicated server.

Shared Hosting and Blacklisted IP Addresses

On shared hosting servers, outbound email is sent through shared email gateways used by multiple accounts. These gateways are regularly rotated to ensure emails are sent from clean IP addresses.

Because of this setup:

• Purchasing a dedicated IP will not change the email routing IP
• A new IP will not resolve the email blacklisting
• IP reputation is managed at the server gateway level

Bluehost actively monitors and removes shared gateways from blacklists and works directly with blacklist providers to prevent server-wide issues.

VPS and Dedicated Servers: Why Changing IPs Isn’t a Sustainable Fix

In VPS or Dedicated server environments, email can be sent using dedicated IP addresses. While switching to another IP may seem like a quick workaround when one becomes blacklisted, this approach is only temporary and does not fully resolve the issue.

You may have the option to:

• Switch to another assigned IP
• Rotate between available IPs within your allocation

However, these options come with important limitations:

• Bluehost does not replace blacklisted IPs
• Cycling through IPs only delays the issue and may eventually exhaust all available addresses
• Frequent IP changes can complicate email deliverability and negatively impact sender reputation

Long-Term Approach

Instead of relying on IP rotation, it is more effective to focus on preventing blacklisting and addressing the root cause. A sustainable solution includes:

• Following proper email sending practices (authentication, list hygiene, and engagement)
• Monitoring IP reputation proactively
• Working directly with blacklist providers to request delisting when necessary

This approach ensures a more reliable resolution and supports consistent email deliverability over time, rather than introducing additional complexity through repeated IP changes. You can visit Email Blacklist: How to Check for Blacklisting and Get Yourself Removed to learn how to check if your IP is blacklisted. 

Firewall IP Blacklisting and Country Restrictions

In some cases, government firewalls or country-based filtering systems block content based on an IP address.

If your website becomes inaccessible due to firewall IP blacklisting:

• Bluehost will not change your IP
• The block is typically policy-based, not server-based

Recommended approach: Upgrade to a VPS or Dedicated server, which provides:

• Dedicated resources
• Exclusive IP addresses
• Your own WHM instance
• No neighboring websites sharing your IP reputation

Summary

Changing your IP address may help in limited scenarios, especially on VPS or Dedicated servers with multiple IPs. However, it is not a guaranteed fix for blacklisting. The most effective solution is to identify the cause, maintain proper email and content practices, and work with blacklist providers for delisting when necessary. Preventative measures will always outperform reactive IP changes.