Perhaps spam is the next popular word in internet communication after email. If you have ever visited the internet which a greater percentage of people in the contemporary world have, there is a high chance you are already familiar with the term spam. If you are an online marketer or a frequent email user, the last thing you need is a tutorial on what spam is because I am sure it is the next annoying thing that comes to your mind. You may however need to be told that spam is not only limited to email. In fact, it has been labeled as the plague of the internet and to be more specific, of your WordPress site. The last thing you would need on your site is to have spam comments fill up your site and I will make sure this is the case by giving you a few tips on how to avoid it on your WordPress site.
The first tool whose use you need to invoke is Akismet. It is the easiest way to deal with 99% of your spam and also the most downloaded WordPress plug-in not to mention the fact that it comes packaged with core WordPress software. Upon activating it, you will need to have an API key which is pretty easy to find. If you already own an account in WordPress, all you need to do is go to ‘Personal Profile Settings’ to get it. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for one to get it. Once you get the API key, you only need to copy-paste it to Akismet settings on the plug-in and click update options and you are good to go.
The wonder of Akismet is that it compares every comment to the database to determine which ones are spam and then transfers them to the spam moderation folder where your visitors cannot view them. In case a spam comment is not spotted by Akismet, you can click on the red spam link to spam it. On the other hand, if a legitimate comment is marked as spam, you can click the yellow ‘not spam’ link to allow your visitors to see it.
Another important tool for spam protection is Defensio. It competes strongly with Akismet and is advantaged in the fact that it does not only protect your site from spam but it also filters out links to malware by blocking links to .exe files and also profanities. It is quite fats in double-checking spam but it is more efficient when used together with Akismet. You also need an API key to use it but you can get one from their site after sign up.
Bad behavior is the third line of defense for your WordPress site against spam. It filters out spam from your site like Defensio and Akismet; only in a different way. Instead, it checks for the mode by which the spam was sent. Bad behavior is important especially if you find that you have to deal with a large number of spam comments. All you need to do is install the plug-in to use it.
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