Comment spam is one of the annoying things that you will come across as your website grows. However, there are tools and tips that you can use to effectively reduce comment spam on your website.
First, you will need to install and activate the Akismet plugin. Akismet monitors your WordPress comments for spam and automatically blocks spam comments. See our Akismet 101 guide to learn more about Akismet and why you should start using it right away.
Next, you need to enable comment moderation on your WordPress site. This will ensure that all comments are manually approved before they appear live on your posts.
Head over to the Settings » Discussion and scroll down to the ‘Before a comment appears’ section. Check the box next to the ‘Comment must be manually approved’ option.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Now, whenever someone submits a comment to your WordPress site, it will go into the moderation queue. You can then go to the comments section to review and approve comments. See our guide on how to moderate comments in WordPress.
For more ways to handle comment spam, check out our list of tips and tools to combat comment spam in WordPress.