How to Block Spam Comments in WordPress with Akismet

How to Block Spam Comments in WordPress with Akismet

Have you heard people complain that Windows computers get more viruses than Apple computers? There are many reasons for that. One of the most common is that there are just so many more Windows computers out there. That’s why they make a much more inviting target.

The same is true with WordPress sites. More than 25% of all websites run on WordPress. Hence, they are a very attractive target for malicious users. It’s common for WordPress beginners to end up with hundreds of spam comments on their posts.

The solution? Akismet.com. They provide a great spam-blocking service. You’ll need it because around 83% of all comments are spam.

There’s no installation needed with Akismet. Its WordPress plugin, owned and operated by the same company that runs WordPress, gets installed for you by default:

01 akismet out of the box

For the Akismet WordPress plugin to start blocking spam comments at your site, you just need to activate it and integrate it with WordPress.com and Akismet.com websites. This is a fairly smooth process. Let’s get started.

  • In your WordPress administrator dashboard go to Plugins >> Akismet Anti-Spam and click on the Activate link:

02 activate

  • Next click on the “Setup your Akismet account” blue button on a dark green background:

03 setup akismet account

  • Now click on the “Get your AIP key” blue button:

04 get your api key

05 get akismet api key button

  • You will now arrive at the https://signup.wordpress.com/signup signup page at WordPress.com site.
  • For the purpose of this tutorial, I assume you don’t have an account with WordPress.com yet.
  • To create it, enter your email address, available username, select a strong password and click on the blue “Signup” button:

06 akismet signup form

07 select akismet sub

  • Now, check your email inbox and open email with the “Activate <Your Usename>” subject, arrived from WordPress.com:

08 activate email

  • Click on the “Activate Account” link:

09 activate link

  1. You will now see the WordPress.com page with the “Your WordPress.com account has been activated!” message at the top.
  2. Click on the blue “Sign in to Akismet” button [2] underneath:

26 account activated

  • You will now arrive at your Akismet account overview page at Akismet.com. Click on the “Add Basic Subscription” button:

20 add basic sub

    1. Drag the “HOW MUCH IS AKISMET WORTH TO YOU?” price button to the very left until the price value gets to 0.
    2. Click on the “Create Subscription” button:

24 create subscription

  • Everything being well, in a few seconds you should see a small modal box with the “Thanks! Your Akismet Basic subscription has been created.” message. Click on the “Got it” button:

27 subscription created

  • Now copy your Akismet API Key from its field:

13 akismet api key

  1. Get back to your site and enter this key into the “Or enter an API key” field
  2. Click on the “Connect with API key” button:

18 connect with api

  • You will now see your Akismet account settings WordPress page with the “Akismet is now protecting your site from spam. Happy blogging!” message:

19 akismet in now protecting

There you have it. Your WordPress comments are now protected by the Akismet anti-spam service.

If you want more features, check out how to reply to WordPress comments by email.

Author

  • Robbie Adair

    Robbie started her career in corporate training until starting her own custom training and media company almost seventeen years ago. In 2010, she began doing classroom training for OSTraining while running Media A-Team. She is often presenting about various tech topics such as Joomla, Fabrik, Web Development, Social Media, and Augmented Reality. She loves seeing that "ah-ha" moment in peoples eyes in her sessions and workshops. She lives in Houston, Texas, but enjoys all the travel for client work and speaking gigs.

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