Tools and Tips for Combating Comment Spam in WordPress
Are you searching for the best tools and tips to combat comment spam in WordPress? This post is for you. Spam comments are a major problem and can easily ruin your online reputation if you don’t take action. The good news is that there are some simple things you can do to combat this issue.
Turn on the comment moderation in WordPress
This is the first action you need to take to combat comment spam in WordPress. This WordPress feature is more of a filter that ensures that comments never get published without your approval. To activate this feature, you need to go to Settings>>Discussion page from the admin area. Scroll to ‘before a comment appears’ section and check the box next to the ‘Comment must be manually approved’ option then save the changes. The only comments that will appear on your website are the ones that you manually approve.
Activate Akismet Anti-spam protection
This is an anti-spam plugin that is pre-installed with WordPress. It works by filtering comments on a website using an anti-spam database that catches common types of spam comments. This is the way to go if you don’t want to have to approve comments manually. Akismet is a free plugin but you have to sign up for the API key. You can get it for free for a personal blog or small website.
Use Sucuri
Another way to combat comment spam in WordPress is using the Sucuri. The best thing about Sucuri is that it stops spammers from accessing your website. This is important because numerous requests by spammers to comment on your website can cause your website to be slow. This is the best WordPress firewall plugin that you can use to block any suspicious requests before they get to your site. The tool prevents automated bots as well as scripts from submitting any comment.
Use Google reCAPTCHA verification
Enabling the Google reCAPTCHA challenge on the comments forms will help combat spams. This feature helps differentiate between human users and robots. One has to check the checkbox button before they can post their comment. Using this feature will put an end to spambots posting comments on your website.
Disable HTML in comments
Most people comment just to add their links on your website. You can discourage this by disabling HTML on the comments. That way you will be able to hide spam links in the WordPress comments.
Before you disable comments altogether on your website, you need to consider using the above options. There are many more things you can do to combat comment spam in WordPress. Choose the one that works best for you and don’t be afraid to use a combination of solutions.