How to Stop Comment Spam on Your WordPress Website
Spam can be a big issue in the comments of WordPress sites, especially as they gain popularity. Here are some ways to prevent spam from reaching your website.
- Reduce the number of links allowed per post
- Most spam will add links in the comments of your website attempting to trick people into clicking them. Reducing the amount of links allowed in your comments can have a great impact against spam.
- In order to change the number allowed, log on to your WordPress dashboard. From there, go to Settings → Discussion
- Find the Comment Moderation section.
- From here you can choose how many links are permitted per comment.
- Create a Comment Blacklist
- A lot of spam will have keywords that are easy to spot. WordPress allows you to create a list of words that will cause a comment to be flagged if used.
- From the WP dashboard, go to Settings → Discussion
- Find the Comment Blacklist section.
- From here you can make a list of words that will send any comment containing them to the trash. Here is a link of recommended keywords to blacklist.
- Restrict comment privileges to only registered users
- To make it more challenging for spammers to comment, only allowing registered users to comment is very effective.
- Return to Settings → Discussion.
- Find the Other comment settings
- Check the Users must be registered and logged in to comment box then save your changes.
- Set up a comment moderation system
- This requires comments to be approved by a person for it to be posted.
- Go to Settings → Discussion
- Find the Before a comment appears section
- Check the Comment must be manually approved section
- Install an anti-spam plugin
- Anti-spam plugins are a very efficient way of combating spam. Below are a few recommendations.
- Akismet
- Antispam Bee
- Move to a new comment system
- Some sites can support a different comment system that can help remove spam for you.
- Disqus is a very popular third-party comment system.
Related Articles
White Screen of Death
The white screen of death (WSOD) is usually caused by an error in a website's PHP or database. WordPress has three main reasons that this can happen: A plugin isn't compatible with some of the software used in WordPress A theme can cause a conflict ...
When/How to Refresh Permalinks
Whenever a new custom post is added through a plugin or code, WordPress permalinks should be flushed. In the WordPress admin, go to "Settings > Permalinks" Click "Save Changes" Permalinks and rewrite rules are flushed
HTTP Status Codes (403, 404, 500, 503)
The HTTP status code can reveal the exact reason that a request was unsuccessful. The following are the most common HTTP status codes: 403 Forbidden This error is usually caused by insufficient file permissions. The user doesn't have the correct ...