As a WordPress site owner, you know that dealing with spam is just a part of life. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to spam registration, but there are some steps you can take to help prevent it from happening in the first place.
In this post, we’ll walk you through some of the best ways to prevent spam registration on your WordPress site. We’ll cover topics like user verification, two-factor authentication, and more. We’ll also share some tips on how to deal with spam registration if it does happen. So, read on for all the details!
How to Prevent Spam Registration on WordPress?
Imagine how much time and effort you’d save if you could stop spam registrations on your WordPress site. Well, with the right tools and settings in place, you can!
Here are a few tips to help you get started:
- Disable user registration.
- Set default new user role.
- Add a password to open the WP-admin login screen.
- Change the default WordPress login URL.
- Use a CAPTCHA plugin to help screen out bots.
- Prevent spam registration with Honeypot.
- Block malicious IP addresses.
- Use a Dedicated WP Registration spam plugin.
With these steps in place, you can be sure that spam registrations will be less likely to happen on your WordPress site.
What Are the Consequences of Spam Registration?
WordPress is the most used CMS, with a market share of 64.1%. You’re probably aware of the spam registration problem if you have a WordPress site. Hackers love to exploit vulnerable WordPress installations by registering fake user accounts and posting spam comments.
This can damage your site’s reputation and lead to a loss in revenue as potential customers are scared away by all the spam. Not to mention, it can be a real hassle to clean up all that spam content.
But there is a solution. By taking a few easy steps to secure your WordPress installation, you can make it much less likely that your site will be hacked or spammed.
How to Prevent Spam Registrations?
There are a few ways to prevent spam registration on your WordPress site. One way is to use a plugin.
There are several great plugins out there that can help you with this, and the best part is that most of them are free. One such plugin is called Antispam Bee. It’s one of the most popular plugins out there, and it’s been downloaded over a million times.
Another popular plugin is called Akismet. It’s also been downloaded over a million times, and the team develops it at Automattic, who are the creators of WordPress itself.
Both of these plugins are great options, and they’ll help you keep your site safe from spam registrations. Having that said, here are a few strategies to prevent spam registration on WordPress.
– Disable User Registration
Do you need people to register on your WordPress website? You’ll probably need people to register if you run an online store or a membership site. However, if that’s not the case, you don’t need to keep user registration open for anyone. If you are ready to create users manually, whenever required, the best option to prevent spam on WordPress is by simply disabling registration.
- To do that, open your WP dashboard. Navigate to ‘Settings’ and click ‘General.’
- Look for the ‘Membership’ setting and uncheck ‘Anyone can register.’
And you’re done! The best way to avoid spam registrations is by making sure no one can register at all.
– Set Default New User Role
If you need to keep your registrations on, you have to ensure that new users don’t get access to your WordPress dashboard.
It is recommended that you give new users the ‘Subscriber’ role.
Why? Because subscribers can’t access the WP Dashboard.
- In order to change the New User Default Role, open the WP Dashboard, navigate to ‘Settings’ and click ‘General.’
- Now in the New User Default Role dropdown, select ‘Subscriber.’
Yes, it’s that easy!
– Add A Password to Open The WP-Admin Login Screen
Another great way of protecting your website from spam registrations is to lock your WP admin login page with a password or PIN. Whoever wants to register or log in must enter the PIN to view the page. However, you’ll need a plugin to secure your login page.
With this amazing WordPress plugin, you can change the logo on the page or use the default one. Also, if you use Secure WP Admin’s login form, you can change what the submit button says and what it says when something goes wrong.
Give this plugin a try today to prevent spam registration on WordPress.
– Change the Default WordPress Login URL
If you don’t want to see spammers register on your website, you can simply change the default WordPress login URL, as they won’t be able to find your login page to register. Changing your login URL is a great way to boost your WP website’s security.
Luckily, you can change your website’s login URL with and without a plugin
– Use a CAPTCHA Plugin to Help Screen Out Bot
So, you’ve set up your WordPress site and are ready to start publishing content. But before you do, you must ensure that your site is secure from spam registrations.
Luckily, preventing spam registration is easy. All you need is a CAPTCHA plugin, which is a type of security plugin that asks users to enter a code or complete a task to prove that they’re human.
There are a number of CAPTCHA plugins available, but my personal favorite is the Google Captcha plugin by BestWebSoft. It’s easy to install and configure, and it’s been tested and proven to be effective at preventing spam registrations.
– Prevent Spam Registration with Honeypot
You can prevent spam registration on your WordPress site by using a honeypot. What is a honeypot? It’s a technique to trap bots and spammers by adding an additional field to the registration form that’s hidden from human eyes.
The idea is that bots will fill in the fields, thinking it’s part of the form, and then you can track them down and delete them. It’s a great way to keep your site clean and free from spam registrations. However, in order for this to work, you’ll need a plugin. Here are a few plugins that you can trust;
- Honeypot for Contact Form 7
- WP Armour
- F12 Spam Protection
– Block Malicious IP Addresses
By blocking IP addresses on your website, you’ll be able to protect it from DDOS attacks, hacking attempts, spam, unwanted login requests, and malware. However, the most crucial reason for blocking IP addresses is to prevent spammers from performing any sort of activity on your website.
There are two ways you can block IP addresses on your site. You can either install a security plugin or manually do it yourself. If you are someone who has very little knowledge about website security, then installing a plugin is the best option for you. However, we prefer that you do it yourself. Here’s how you can do it:
IP Blocker in cPanel
You’ll find that most hosting providers allow you to block IP addresses in WordPress from your hosting account.
To find this option, you’ll have to open cPanel and navigate to the section called Security.
Here, you’ll find the option called IP Blocker. The name may be different according to your hosting provider.
After opening the IP Blocker, you need to add all the IP addresses that you’ve noted down as suspicious. Once added, your hosting provider will block them, and they won’t be able to comment on or access your website.
– Use A Dedicated WP Registration Spam Plugin
One of the easiest ways to prevent spam registrations on WordPress is by simply installing a dedicated plugin. Such a plugin will monitor and flag spam in all areas, including registration, comments, and form submission.
A few plugins you can trust are:
- WordPress Zero Spam
- WPBruiser
- CleanTalk
- Stop Spammers
How to Report Spam Registrations to WordPress?
Now that you know how to prevent spam registrations on your WordPress site, let’s take a look at how to report them.
If you encounter a registration that you believe is spam, you first need to copy the user’s email address and paste it into the dashboard’s ‘Report Spam’ field.
You can also report spam users from the Users screen. Just click on the ‘Report’ link next to the user’s email address, and WordPress will take care of the rest.
And that’s it! Reporting spam registrations is a quick and easy way to keep your WordPress site safe and spam-free.
Go for Professional Help
As easy as it sounds, WordPress development isn’t a walk in the park. It requires expertise to end up with what is attempted without losing data or hurting the website’s performance. Therefore, if you don’t have experience managing a WordPress website, we recommend that you rely on professional WordPress developers.
Not only will they work on keeping your website safe from spam registrations and comments, but they’ll also ensure that your data is safe and your website’s performance is flawless.
Wrap Up
Are you tired of getting spam registrations and comments every day? Well, I’m pretty sure no one wants to wake up to see bots or hackers gain access to their WordPress dashboard. Because of this, it’s important to take the steps needed to stop spam registrations on WordPress.
All the tips mentioned above are ideal for helping you witness a stop in spam registrations. Start working on them today, or simply go for professional help.
