Every website owner who already has quite a lot of articles, especially those who use WordPress CMS, must often see that there are people who leave comments on several articles. Many visitors who give positive comments on the article can be one of the signs that the article is useful and liked.
But what happens when comments are filled with vague product sales, website promotions and random sentences of no value? These spam comments are very annoying and sometimes irritate anyone who reads them. So how do you get rid of spam comments on your WordPress website?
Don't worry, fortunately there are currently tons of ways or tips & tricks to get rid of spam comments quickly and easily. Want to know? Come on, please see the complete discussion below.
How to Eliminate Spam Comments in WordPress with Settings
This method is quite easy and quite fast by changing the comment settings in WordPress. First, go to Settings-Discussion.
Disable Comment Field
If you don't think comments are important because they usually contain weird spam, you can just disable the comment field. The trick is to go to Settings-Discussion and remove the checklist on the writing Allow people to submit comments on new posts. If so, just press the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.
But you need to know that this comment column is only inactive for articles that are just about to be created, so for articles that have been published the comment column is still there. But don't worry if you also want to get rid of the comment column for previous articles, you can go to method 2 below.
Disable Comments For Specific Articles
Now if the first method can only be used for articles that have not been created and for old articles it is not affected, then you can try this method to turn off the comments column for articles that have been published.
The trick is that you enter the Post menu and click Edit Post on the article that you want to remove the comment column. Select Document on the right, then scroll down until you see the Discussion menu. There you can remove the check mark on Allow comments.
Turn off Anonymous Comments
Generally on every website, if you want to comment you need to enter your name, email and a website URL. But it turns out that if you turn on the Anonymous feature, all website visitors or spambots can freely comment.
That's why it's important that you check it. You go to Settings- Discussion and then put a check mark on the Comment author must fill out name and email.
This won't completely prevent spam on WordPress from appearing, but it will at least make it a little harder for spammers to do their thing. In the end, they'll think twice about doing it and choose another website as their target.
Turn on Comment Moderation
This is one of the most effective ways for you to use. If you turn on comment moderation, every visitor who comments on your article must first be approved by the website owner or you in order for the comment to appear. This will reduce spam comments and only quality comments will appear.
The trick is to go to Settings-Discussion:
Check the Comment must be manually approved section to moderate all incoming comments.
Check the Comment author must have a previously approved comment section if you want to moderate first-time visitors.
In addition, if you want to be notified by email regarding comments that need moderation, you can check the A comment is held for moderation section.
Allow comments from logged-in users
This method is perfect if you only want to limit comments to users who have logged in to your website. This is useful if your website requires visitors to register and login first.
The way to set it up is to go to Settings-Discussion and check the Users must be registered and logged in to comment section.
This will certainly reduce spam comments.
Creating a Forbidden Word List
This method is perfect for those of you who don't have time to moderate incoming comments. You can create a list of forbidden words such as abusive words and potentially spammy words.
You can also include the names of unwanted websites or competitors' products. But don't enter too many words, visitors will not leave comments because there are many prohibited words and leave the website.
The trick is to fill in the Disallowed Comment Keys field with words that you don't want to appear in the comment field. Make sure you fill in one word per line and enter the next word on the next line.
Blokir Link
In addition to spam comments, it turns out that there are also those who comment with URLs or links. They usually put links there with the aim of getting backlinks or traffic from there. Well to overcome this, you can block comments that contain links or URLs.
How do you do that? It's easy enough to change the numbers in the Comment Moderation section. If you see the default, it is filled with number 2 which means one link for each comment. You try changing it to number 1 so that links are not allowed.
How to Get Rid of Spam Comments in WordPress Using a Plugin
If that's not enough, you can try using a plugin to eliminate spam in WordPress comment sections.
Disable Comments
The first plugin is Disable Comments. If you use this you can disable all comment fields in your posts according to their type. This plugin makes you no longer have to disable one by one which certainly takes a lot of time. Moreover, your website has many articles...
Akismet
If you don't know what Akismet is. Akismet is a plugin that is widely used by WordPress users to protect websites from spam.
Akismet is automatically installed after you setup your WordPress website, but you need to enable it for it to do its job. Here's how to activate Akismet:
On the dashboard select Plugins-Installed Plugins and then click Activate on the Akismet plugin.
Then tap Set up your Akismet account.
Next, you will see the Akismet price list. Only use the free version on the left if your website is personal and does not sell products.
Fill in your personal data first and make sure to slide the slider to the left so that the value is $0/YEAR. Check all the boxes and then press CONTINUE WITH PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION.
Check your registered email inbox and copy the verification code. Enter the code and press Continue. If the email hasn't arrived, you can tap Can't find the email? Resend it.
Check your email inbox again and copy the API code. Next, go back to the admin page, select Plugins-Installed Plugins. Select the settings text under the Akismet plugin.
Select Manually enter an API key.
Enter the API code you copied earlier, if so select Connect with API key.
Akismet setup is complete. Now all comments that indicate spam will automatically go to the Spam Folder, then will be deleted if it has been 15 days.
How to Get Rid of Spam Comments in WordPress Using Captcha
If you don't know what Captcha is, it's a feature to ensure that the person taking the action or commenting is a human and not a robot/bot. Here are some plugins you can use:
- Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) : The best captchas we recommend
- Cerber Security : Using Google's algorithm to prevent spam comments
- Advanced noCaptcha : Can enter CAPTCHA v3
- Stop Spammer : Can include captcha in the form you create