The first reason, despite its popularity, is quite laughable. Google has long devalued links that are tagged with tags such as “ugc” and “nofollow”<\/a>. And, as we know, WordPress by default marks all links as nofollow when they are shared in a comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The example screenshot above shows a small variety of comments you might get from spammers. The pattern is immediately visible. The comments are mostly pointing back to malicious software websites, casino platforms, or otherwise services that are not to be trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Above all, letting such comments slip through leaves a bad impression on your site visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This brings me to my next point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have been actively involved with websites over the last 10 years, you’ll know that blog comments are slowly fading away<\/a>. Platforms like Twitter and Reddit have become the go-to platforms for having conversations, and fewer people are leaving comments on published blog content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It used to be that blogs were written specifically for readers. And those blogs would naturally attract comments and engaging discussions. And while such blogs are still out there, it is worth asking yourself if you need a comment section at all<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You could very well move your entire discussion environment to a site like Twitter. And, in turn, encourage your site visitors to join a discussion there. Which would also help you grow your social media following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s just a thought, of course, but one worth considering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following section is dedicated entirely to various methods you can apply to start dealing with spam effectively. We’re going to focus on 3 different techniques: using in-built tools from WordPress, activating a plugin, and lastly – exploring the option of using 3rd-party comment systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The very first thing you can do is go to your WordPress dashboard. From there, navigate to Settings<\/strong> and select Discussion Settings<\/strong>. This will open up a panel where you can customize a variety of options for how you wish comments to be managed on your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The setting of interest here is under the “Before a comment appears” option. Here you want to tick the checkbox that says, “Comment author must have a previously approved comment”<\/em>. It will do exactly what it says. Once you save the settings, any new comments on your site will be held for moderation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can go a step further and also tick the box that says that comments must be manually approved. In fact, the latter option is quite popular among reputable publisher platforms. It is a good alternative to having a plugin that automatically detects spam, however – you will need to check each comment manually, including all the spammy ones. It can turn into quite a lot of work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, it is highly recommended to use a plugin. And for this purpose, we have two solid choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advantage of using a plugin is that you can automate the entire spam detection process. But, what are the best plugins for the job? Over the years, things have changed slightly in the WordPress plugin ecosystem. A lot of the plugins that once were “free” are now crippled with freemium and pro plans that have a limited number of features unless you pay up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, our goal is to highlight the plugins that can help protect you against spam for free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the picks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The one and only Akismet Spam Protection plugin. Brought to you by the same lovely people<\/a> who built WordPress<\/a> in the first place. Now, Akismet is a fantastic solution. There is no question. However, in recent years they have shifted their model a little bit. It is free to use the plugin only on non-commercial<\/em> sites!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if you show advertisements or promote affiliate links on your site – you (technically) have to become a paid customer. However, it’s worth noting that Akismet does not enforce this overly strictly. As long as your site doesn’t get millions of spam requests every day – you should be in the clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you download and activate the plugin, you’ll need to obtain a unique API key from Akismet. This process is automated inside your WordPress dashboard. Follow along the steps to create an Akismet account, get your API key, and then activate it inside the plugin. That’s it. Your comments will now be automatically moderated, and of course, protected against spam!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download:<\/strong> wordpress.org\/plugins\/akismet\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our second recommendation is the Antispam Bee plugin. Because the plugin is completely open-source<\/a>, it means you will never need to worry about any licenses. Use it on both commercial and non-commercial sites as you please. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s look at some of the features that Antispam Bee provides in the fight against spam:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And other custom features. Overall, the goal of Antispam Bee is to help you customize a list of settings and regulations that will determine whether a comment is spam or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Download:<\/strong> wordpress.org\/plugins\/antispam-bee\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s unlikely that the concept of “spamming” websites is going to go away any time soon. For people who do it, even a 0.01% success rate can be considered “worth the effort”. But, as a website owner – you’re the one having to deal with all that noise directly. So, an alternative is to use a comment system that does a lot of the heavy lifting on your behalf. Here are some of our recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jetpack<\/a> is yet another plugin built by the original WordPress team. And, the plugin comes with its own custom comment system which is based on the type that is used on WordPress.com websites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The nice thing about Jetpack is that it provides a lot more than just an alternative commenting solution. The plugin covers areas like website security, backup management, migration, and other useful features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And since Akismet is also part of Jetpack – you can rest assured that spam will be dealt with the right way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disqus<\/a> is one of the more refined commenting systems. It is completely separate from WordPress and requires you to create an account on their platform. It is nonetheless an incredibly popular system that is used by both publishers, bloggers, and everyday writers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The WordPress plugin lets you embed Disqus comments directly as a replacement for the native WordPress commenting system. The advantage of Disqus is that it supports a variety of login methods, including a Disqus account but also social media profiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, adding Disqus to your site can have some great benefits in regard to discussions. Because people already have an account, they might feel more inclined to comment on your site since it won’t require them to write out their personal details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.famethemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/WordPress-spam-comment-example-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIs it worth having a comment section?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"blog](\"https:\/\/www.famethemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/blog-comments-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow to prevent spam in WordPress comments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Setting up the correct Discussion Settings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.famethemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/wordpress-discussion-settings-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nUsing plugins to prevent spam<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
#1: Akismet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Akismet\"](\"https:\/\/www.famethemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Akismet-Spam-Protection.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n#2: Antispam Bee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Antispam](\"https:\/\/www.famethemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Antispam-Bee.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nComment systems with in-built spam protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jetpack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Disqus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n