3 minutes reading
Increasing the popularity of a website, blog or online shop is every owner's dream. More traffic means more customers, comments, interactions and therefore -. greater success. Unfortunately, growing popularity also comes with challenges, one of the most intractable of which is... spam. Comments and spam messages can poison the lives of site owners and reduce the quality of interaction with real users. How to deal with it? Read in this article.
What is spam and why is it dangerous?
Spam is any kind of unwanted content that may appear in the form of comments, registrations or emails. They can be the result of automated bot attacks or spammers trying to advertise their products. Furthermore, spam wastes your time, as manually deleting comments or filtering messages is a time-consuming process. It can seriously damage your site in a variety of ways:
1. Reducing the website's reputation: A site with tons of spam in the comments looks neglected and unprofessional, which can put off potential customers.
2. Slower page loading: A large number of unwanted comments and registrations can put a strain on the database and server resources, leading to slower website performance.
3. Security risk: Some spam messages may contain malware or phishing that can put your website and users at risk.
How do anti-spam plug-ins work?
The anti-spam plug-ins are tools that can be installed in the panel of e.g. WordPressto automatically block spam before it has a chance to invade your site. Their main task is to filter out comments and messages - both those that are clearly spam and those that only appear to be genuine. How do they do it? Here are the most common methods:
- IP filters: Block access to the site for IP addresses from which spam is sent.
- Verification of trackbacks: The plugins check that the tracking IP address matches the server from which the message originated, eliminating false notifications.
- Content analysis: The plug-ins scan the content of comments, identifying common spam patterns such as repeated phrases, links to suspicious sites, etc.
- Automatic bot blocking: Most plug-ins run in the background, cutting off bots from accessing the site without the need to manually sort comments.
Features that a good anti-spam plug-in should have
Choosing the right anti-spam plugin depends on the needs of your site, but there are some universal features that any good plugin should have:
- No unnecessary actions: Good plug-ins should not force users to do extra things, such as entering CAPTCHA codes or ticking checkboxes. They should run in the background without affecting the real user experience.
- Minimum server load: Anti-spam plugins should not overload your site's database. Ideally, spam comments are not even stored in the database, which reduces the number of SQL queries.
- Statistics: Some plug-ins offer accurate statistics on the number of blocked comments, allowing you to better understand the scale of the problem and optimise your settings.
- Trackback Validation: This function compares the IP addresses of incoming messages with the servers, making it easier to detect spam.
Free anti-spam plugins for WordPress
Fortunately, you don't have to fight spam yourself or pay for security, as WordPress offers free anti-spam plugins that effectively block spam even before it reaches you. Such plugins work on various levels - from blocking spambots to filtering comment content. They ensure that most spam emails never reach your site. Here are four popular plugins to help you fight spam on your WordPress-based site:
1. Akismet
This is one of the most popular anti-spam plugins, created by the developers of WordPress. Akismet runs on an external server, which means that your site is not burdened with additional requests. The plugin automatically filters spam, but for commercial use it requires you to pay for the premium version.
2. the Antispam Bee
Antispam Bee is a free and very effective plugin that blocks spam comments based on IP addresses. It works in a non-intrusive way for users and offers features such as notifications of blocked comments.
3. WordPress Zero Spam
This plug-in blocks not only spam comments, but also spam in registration and contact forms. It is effective, but requires users to fill in form fields additionally, which can be annoying for some visitors.
4. Spam protection, AntiSpam by CleanTalk
It is an advanced plug-in that protects not only against individual comments, but also against mass bot attacks. It offers multi-layered protection, including IP filters, whitelisting and blacklisting, and blocking unwanted emails.
Summary
Securing a WordPress site against spam is not only a matter of convenience, but also a matter of reputation protection. An effective anti-spam plug-in is an indispensable component of any popular website. However, remember to choose a plug-in that is tailored to your needs - avoid solutions that overload the server or negatively impact users.
