Spam is certainly an issue that can affect the authenticity and credibility of a website or blog. In fact, the spam factor is something that affects your chances of being googled properly. Spam can be defined as irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients. It goes without saying that the whole concept of spam is annoying, it wastes time, it misuses resources, it’s an invasion of privacy, and it costs internet users money.
For WordPress users, there are plenty of simple tweaks you can perform that will block or hide these comments before your visitors see them via a well-facilitated commenting system. You can even use a robust anti-spam plugin to tighten your defenses.
There are many ways that you can stop spam in its tracks, and this article on 8 Tips to Prevent Comment Spam on WordPress Sites offers a great indication of how you can do this. From a general standpoint, it makes sense to follow the guidelines below that will assist you in ensuring your blog stays spam free.
1. Minimize Links Per Post
The majority of comment spam is designed to add links in your comment section and trick people into clicking on them. Therefore, one way to combat spam is to permit fewer links in your comments. Authentic visitors will be prevented from posting many links, but slowing down the spammers is surely worth that inconvenience.
2. Blacklist Words
Many spam comments contain a lot of familiar keywords. This makes it easier to spot them and to stop them from appearing on your blog. You can simply create a ‘blacklist’ of words, and your site will flag any comment containing one of them. You will realize that in this age of fake news and misinformation, please have formulated very strong opinions that transcend a great deal of subject matter.
Based on the topics that you cover, it would hardly be a surprise that many blogs get spammy comments that are downright offensive and nefarious to say the least. Ensuring that you take some serious action when it comes to spammy comments is non-negotiable.
3. Get A Great Commenting System
This method won’t work for all sites, but some third-party comment systems, like Hyvor Talk, can help eliminate most of the spam for you. Commenting systems, also called commenting platforms, add commenting functionality to websites (such as blogs and news sites) that post content.
Commenting capabilities engage an audience, making content more memorable and more likely to be shared. Any content marketer or brand will know that comments are also an easy metric by which content creators can measure the performance of their work and how well it is received.
In conclusion, it can be said without any doubt that spam comments can quickly clutter up your site, making it look unprofessional and driving real visitors away. Comment systems can be implemented by any content creator looking to engage their audience, from bloggers to artists to journalists and beyond, and this is something that should be done. Cleaning up all that spam is challenging. This means you should strongly consider putting a little upfront time into developing a strong anti-spam strategy.
