Search Atlas's Digital PR Outreach module includes a Skip Catch-All Domains toggle in the campaign creation flow. Enable it to automatically remove contacts with unverifiable email addresses before your campaign sends — keeping your deliverability and engagement metrics accurate.
📬 What Is a Catch-All Domain?
A catch-all domain is a mail domain configured to accept every email sent to it — even if the specific mailbox does not exist. For example, if editor@example.com was never set up, a catch-all server still accepts the message instead of returning a bounce.
Because the server accepts anything, no verification tool can confirm whether that address belongs to a real, active inbox. Sending to catch-all addresses inflates your send count while producing unreliable open, reply, and bounce data.
⚙️ How Catch-All Domain Skipping Works in Search Atlas
Search Atlas checks each prospect's email domain during campaign setup. When Skip Catch-All is enabled:
- Any contact whose email resolves to a catch-all domain is removed from the send queue before launch.
- Those contacts move into a dedicated Catch-All bucket visible in your campaign details — they are not deleted, just separated for review.
- Your delivered, opened, replied, and bounced counts reflect only contacts with verifiable inboxes.
When the toggle is disabled, Search Atlas sends to every contact on your list, including those on catch-all domains. Reach is maximized, but engagement data will be less reliable.
🚀 How to Toggle Catch-All Domain Skipping in a Campaign
- Go to Digital PR → Outreach in the left navigation.
- Click Create Campaign.
- Fill in the campaign name, target URL, and prospect list.
- In the campaign settings section, find the Skip Catch-All Domains toggle.
- Toggle it on to exclude catch-all addresses, or leave it off to include them.
- Complete any remaining fields and click Launch Campaign.
Search Atlas saves the toggle setting per campaign. Each new campaign can be configured independently based on your outreach goal.
📊 Understanding the Catch-All Bucket in Campaign Details
After launching a campaign with Skip Catch-All enabled, open the campaign's detail view. The Catch-All stat shows:
- Catch-All count — the number of contacts excluded because their domain was identified as catch-all.
- These contacts received no email and are not counted in your delivered, opened, bounced, or replied totals.
- Review this list to decide whether to reach those prospects through an alternate email address or a different channel.
If the toggle was disabled when the campaign launched, the Catch-All bucket displays zero — all contacts were included in the send regardless of domain type.
💡 When to Enable vs. Disable Catch-All Skipping
Choose the setting that matches your campaign priority:
- Enable Skip Catch-All when accurate engagement data matters — for example, when open rate or reply rate will inform your next outreach round. This is the recommended default.
- Disable Skip Catch-All when maximizing raw reach is the goal and you can tolerate less precise metrics — for example, broad brand-awareness sends where list size is the key variable.
If you are unsure, enable the toggle. You can always review the Catch-All bucket and follow up with those contacts separately through a verified address.
🎯 You now know what catch-all domains are, how the Skip Catch-All toggle protects your campaign metrics, and how to read the Catch-All bucket in campaign details. For best results, pair this setting with a clean, deduplicated prospect list before each campaign launch.