Do you get a lot of WordPress comment spam? In this article, we will show you how to stop comment spam in WordPress using Akismet. Akismet is a powerful plugin that is bundled with all WordPress installations and is extremely effective in stopping spam comments on your WordPress site. Once you have completed this article, you will be able to prevent comment spam with ease.
Enabling Akismet
- First, you will need to log into your WordPress admin dashboard.
Once logged into your WordPress site, click on Plugins. From the Plugins page, you will see an entry for Akismet. To activate the Akismet comment spam prevention plugin, click the Activate link.
Now that the Akismet plugin is activated, you will have just one more thing to do before comment spam will be prevented on your WordPress site. After activation, you will see a new button at the top of the Plugins that says Activate your Akismet account. Click on this button to begin configuration of your Akismet API key.
If you do not already have an Akismet API key, you will need to generate one. To do so, click on the button that says Create a new Akismet Key.
As you have clicked on the button within your WordPress dashboard, you will be taken to the Akismet website with a big blue button that says Get an Akismet API key. Of course, click on this to visit the next page.
You will then be prompted to log into the WordPress.com website. If you already have an account, you may click the link that says I already have a WordPress.com account!, then log in. If you do not yet have a WordPress.com account, you may fill out the appropriate fields within the page to create one.
Now that you are logged in, you will see a few different options here with the details for them also described. In this case, I am using Akismet on a personal blog, so I will choose the option for a personal account. Of course, if you are adding Akismet to a commercial website, you would want to choose another option within this page depending on your needs. To choose your plan, click the Sign Up button below the plan you would like to go with.
As you have just selected your plan, you will be taken to the payment options page. If you selected the personal option, you have the option to select any yearly contribution that you want to via the slider on the right side. Of course, you can choose to not pay anything at all, but it’s always a good idea to contribute something to help the further development of Akismet. Once you have your information as you want it, click on the blue Continue button.
On this final page within the Akismet website, you will see your Akismet API key. Be sure to save this as you will need it in the next steps.
- Back on your WordPress admin dashboard, hover over Plugins, then click on Akismet. On this page, click on I already have a key. You will then be prompted with a field that says Akismet API Key. In this field, enter your Akismet API key that you received in the previous steps, and click Save Changes.
Akismet is now working on your site. On the Akismet settings page, you may also set it to automatically delete spam comments as well as show the number of comments that you have approved next to each person who has left a comment within the WordPress dashboard.
Now that you have Akismet installed and activated, it will begin locating spam comments within your WordPress site with ease.
For more information on handling WordPress comments, take a look at the following article:
I’ll like another option please.I no longer can click the pluging box in my Dasboard settings.
Hello,
If you are having problem with just the plugin settings in WordPress then you may need to troubleshoot the entire installation in order to determine the overall problem. There should be no reason you can’t click the plugin box. That issue is generally an indication of a problem with your WordPress installation. Check out Troubleshooting WordPress plugins.