How to stop Spam bots from accessing your WordPress Website?
As the number of websites around the world is increasing, the number of spam attacks are also increasing. More and more websites are constantly being attacked by factors that do security breach and spam bots are one of them.
If your website is being attacked by spam bots and you aren’t sure how to stop Spam Bots from accessing your WordPress websites, this guide will help you!
What are Spam Bots and why should you stop Spam Bots?
If you aren’t already familiar with what Spam Bots are, we are here to help you understand and stop Spam Bots from accessing your WordPress Website for your own good.
In order to boost the website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), some people try to create spambots so that they can extract some important information such as email addresses or divert traffic to their websites through backlinks via blog comments.
Simply put, you must have seen websites using Captchas and would have thought what’s the reason behind this? The reason is to stop spam bots.
Allowing spambots to access your WordPress website can not only be riskier for your Website ranking but also there will be a constant threat to information of your website’s users being stolen.
Whether you are a newbie to WordPress or a professional, you derive information from Google Analytics to prepare strategies for the future. These strategies won’t hold any value if you came to know that the information provided by Google Analytics is not accurate. Spambots hamper the data collected from your website resulting in inaccurate Google Analytics numbers.
How can you stop Spam bots?
Here are some of the ways you can use to stop Spam bots from attaching your website:
1) Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the most important tools from an SEO point of view and you have to make sure that you receive accurate pieces of information. If you check your website a number of times, it can hamper the statistics. So, to avoid it, you need to add your IP address in a new filter and exclude it from Google Analytics.
2) Simple Measures On WordPress
WordPress powers 35% of the web. Although its management system is top-notch and makes life easy for you, it still cannot prevent comment spams automatically. If you have some kind of blog written on your website, chances are you have already permitted comments on your website to interact with the visitors.
These Spam comments can cause some serious damage to your website in terms of the outlook and abduction of personal information.
You can take control of these spam bots manually by following these steps –
● Make a “Blacklist”
Spam comments are easily distinguishable from legitimate comments. One way to stop Spam bots is to create a list of words that you appear frequently in these spam comments.
In order to enable this, Go to settings in your WordPress dashboard and select Discussion. Under the Comment Blacklist section, you can add your list of words.
● Set up Manual Approval
Although this option is only valid for those who have ample time to verify each and every comment, it still is pretty effective. You’ll have a chance to review every comment and choose the ones that stay on your website.
To enable this, Go to Settings and then Discussion, select “Before a comment appears” option. Confirm the “Comment must be manually approved”.
● Disable Comments on old posts
If you update the content of your website regularly, this might be an adequate option for you.
To enable this option, go to Discussion just like in the previous steps and select “Automatically close comments on articles older than”. You can enter the amount of the number of days in the next column.
● Decrease the number of Links allowed
By permitting fewer links, you can stop the problem of users adding links in your comments section. Most spam comments carry links and this is an ideal way to deal with it.
The “Comment Moderation” section in Discussion (Settings) will help you decide how many comments you want to hold in a queue if it contains the desired number of links.
● Disable Comments
Probably, the easiest way to deal with the spam comments is to Disable comments in the first place. You just have to untick the box that says “Allow people to submit a comment on new articles”.
3) Install Plugins
Free Plugins
● Anti-Spam Bee
Possibly the best free plugin available on WordPress to deal with Spambots. Neither does it make use of Captchas nor it sends personal information to any third party.
It is free for both personal as well as commercial purposes. Moreover, it makes sure that it blocks spam comments and trackbacks. It notifies the admin about the incoming spam and validates the IP address of commenters. Anti-Spam Bee is already installed by more than half a million users and has been given a 5-star rating.
● Cerber Security, Anti Spam and Malware Scan
This plugin through its advanced malware scanner, anti-spam engine, and Google Recaptcha makes sure that WordPress is protected from spams and malware.
The best feature of this plugin is that it automatically detects the spam and moves it to the trash. Moreover, it blocks an intruder IP address when it attempts to log in from a prohibited username.
Already installed by more than 100,000 users, it has received a 5-star rating from 415 users.
Paid Plugins
● Akismet Anti-Spam
The most popular anti-spam plugin on WordPress, Akismet has been downloaded by more than 5 million users. Although it is free for personal purposes, you have to pay a certain amount in order to use it for commercial purposes.
It is compatible with every top plugin available on WordPress.
The global database of Akismet allows it to explore every comment and contact form submission on your website. It also allows you to track the history of the comments.
In order to activate this plugin, you will need an API key.
● CleanTalk
If stop Spam Bots in contacts is not enough, CleanTalk will block spam from bookings, orders, registrations, surveys, and even Woocommerce.
The real-time email validation technology will tell you if the email is real or not. There’s a free trial and then you have to pay for its services. CleanTalk will even provide you the reason behind blocking a particular comment.
Having received a 5-star rating from 1800 users, it is one of the most popular plugins in this segment.
We have discussed why Spambots are a threat to your website and how you can take small as well as big measures to avoid them. We hope that we provided some valuable information for you. What ways do you use to stop spam bots from accessing your website? Let us know in the comments below!