5 tips to prevent spam in WordPress

WordPress is the most used CMS in the world, but has unfortunately one disadvantage. It has a huge spam problem. If you just install a wordpress system and open for all to comment you will get a lot of spam comments.

And what is the problem with spam content? Your visitors don’t like it and search engines wont like it. It is bad for SEO – partly because most of it is duplicate content and partly because search engines are becomming better detecting spam.

So it is really important for all website owners to prioritize spam fight on your website.

But how do you best fight spam on WordPress?

Akismet

Akismet is the best WordPress plugin for detecting spam. And it is actually already build into WordPress.  All you need is a free serial code. A must have on all WordPress sites.

Cookies for comments

This plugin is really great for detecting spam behavior. Using a cookie you can for instance say that all persons that writes a comment should at least use 6 seconds doing this. Not many spammers use that much time – it is simply copypaste.

Approve all comments

Always approve all comments. This ensures that comments are real, although it doesvrequire some work.

Captcha fields

Captcha fields are fields where users are asked to enter a word from an image – something a robot cannot do.

Only do this if spam is really a huge problem, because it damage user experience.

Install on all forms, e.g. comments, contact, registration etc.

Nofollow links

If you allow links in your comments remember to set them as nofollow links. Some spammers only want dofollow links because they have higher values.

This was my spam tips for today. How do you fight spam and which plugins do you use. Feel free to write a comment.