unhappy face in response to WordPress spam comments

How to Reduce Spam Comments on Your WordPress Website

Spam comments are annoying, but they can also be inappropriate and just nasty as well. Now only can they be jarring, but they take your precious time to remove and report the unwanted comments, leaving you feeling resentful.

If your WordPress website is getting these nasty spam comments, here are a few steps you can take within your WordPress admin to help reduce the spam comments.

List “Disallowed Terms” in the Admin

To add disallowed terms for your WordPress website, go to Settings > Discussion and find the “Disallowed Comment Keys” field. In that field, you can enter usernames, words and short terms that, if (when) they come through in a comment, will immediately go to the trash so you never see them.

Turn Comments “Off” on Posts and Pages

Unless you run an interactive blog, make sure you have comments turned “off” on all posts, pages and other content types. If you don’t encourage or intend to have people comment on your content, there’s no reason to allow comments on any part of your website. You can turn comments “off” in the post or pages section either individually or with a bulk action. The following process can be used for pages as well:

  1. Go to Posts > All Posts and either:
    1. Click Quick Edit and uncheck the “Allow Comments” box
    2. Select all of your posts using the checkbox at the far left of the posts table. Under Bulk Actions find the “Edit” option and click Apply. Find the Comments dropdown, change the option to “Don’t Allow” and click Update

Don’t let spam comments ruin your day! Get proactive with the tips above and if you still have issues, reach out for some advanced help!

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