Akismet, by Automattic, is a plugin that will protect a WordPress site from spam comments.
Manually filtering spam from your site is ridiculously tedious and time consuming. Time better spent working on growing your business. So why do it? Akismet will constantly scan for spam for you! Akismet actually learns as it goes, gathering information on the spam it filters from all participating sites to block future spam.
Using Akismet
The way it works is whenever someone posts a comment to a website running Akismet, Akismet checks the post against other posts in the database. If it is determined to be spam, it is deleted. Any spam that manages to get through Akismet can be marked as spam by the user, which will be added to the Akismet spam database, so future posts will be treated as spam and deleted. To date, Akismet boasts filtering 7.5 million pieces of spam every hour.
Akismet is included by default in all WordPress builds since version 2.0. To use Akismet, in the dashboard of your WordPress site, go to the Plugins menu. If you see Akismet listed, make sure it is activated. If it is not listed, go to “Add New” and search for it to install and activate. Activating the plugin alone does not do anything however, but it will ask you for an API Key. To get the API Key, go to the Akismet website and you will see a “Say Goodbye to Comment Spam” button that you can click on.
That will take you to the pricing page. The Basic plan is for personal sites and blogs. You can “name your price” to obtain the API Key. $0 (free) is an acceptable price, but if you can afford it, it is a tool worth paying for and supporting. The Plus plan is for commercial and professional sites, and requires a monthly subscription, currently set at $5 USD. A premium subscription can be had for $9 USD, which provides daily backups and unlimited backup storage as well as priority support. Click on the button under the plan you wish to purchase.
On the next page you will see a link to click if you have a WordPress account, or you can fill out the form if you do not have one.
Clicking on the “Signup” button will take you to a payment page.
Fill out the form (enter $0 for the free plan), and then click “Continue”. Your API Key will be displayed as well as emailed to you.
You’ll know it’s working if you see spam comments auto marked in the “Comments” section of the dashboard!
Spam got you down? Check out some of our other articles on Anti-Spam plugin options and 7 of the best security plugins for WordPress + Shield. Form spam your issue rather than comment spam? Check this article out too!