Why Is Spam a Problem for Websites?
Ever get that feeling of excitement when a new message arrives from your website contact form, only to be dashed when you discover its yet more spam; or to receive notification of a new comment only to discover its unconnected with your post and trying to promote something you’d rather not? To say it is annoying is an understatement, but it can also cause other issues:
Clutters Your Website
Spam comments and fake submissions can overwhelm your content, making your site appear unprofessional. Visitors may question your credibility if they see irrelevant or harmful links in your comment sections.
Hinders Performance
Spam often comes from automated bots that overload your server with fake traffic, slowing down your website’s performance and increasing your hosting costs.
Introduces Security Risks
Spam can carry malicious links or phishing attempts, exposing your site and visitors to cybersecurity threats.
The Cost of Ignoring Spam
Spam cannot be ignored. A business website overrun with spam faces several risks, which can turn it into a no-go zone for both visitors and Google:
- Lost Customers: Visitors may avoid your site due to a poor user experience.
- Security Vulnerabilities: Malicious spam can introduce malware or phishing attempts.
- Increased Costs: At its most extreme, spam traffic uses up server resources, leading to higher hosting fees.
- Reduces Trust: Visitors may view spam as a sign of neglect, reducing their confidence in your website.
- Affects Rankings: Google penalizes sites with spammy or irrelevant links, lowering your SEO performance.
- Increases Bounce Rate: A site cluttered with spam discourages users from staying or engaging.
Steps to Protect Your Website from Spam
As disheartening as spam can be, it is relatively easy to reduce it considerably, if not eliminate it entirely.
Use Anti-Spam Plugins
WordPress offers powerful plugins designed to filter and block spam automatically:
- Akismet Anti-Spam: Automatically detects and filters spam comments.
- Antispam Bee: A free, GDPR-compliant plugin for blocking spam.
Enable Comment Moderation
Allow comments only after they’ve been reviewed. In WordPress:
- Go to Settings > Discussion, then enable “Comments must be manually approved.”
Add CAPTCHA to Forms
Prevent bots from spamming your contact forms by using CAPTCHA verification or a plugin such as CleanTalk which does not require a CAPTCHA at all.
- Recommended Plugin: reCAPTCHA by Google.
Disable Comments on Old Posts
If you’re no longer actively managing comments on older blog posts, turn them off to reduce spam.
- In WordPress, go to Settings > Discussion > Automatically close comments on posts older than X days.
Monitor and Clean Your Site Regularly
Schedule regular reviews of your website’s comment sections, form submissions, and analytics to identify and remove spam.
How Digiphore Protects Your Website from Spam
We provide a comprehensive spam protection service to keep your website professional and secure:
- Anti-Spam Plugin Installation: all the sites we manage, we install CleanTalk Anti-spam. This removes the need for CAPTCHAs totally by checking the users IP address against bot and spam blacklists in real-time.
- Comment Moderation: Our team can review and clean up comments, ensuring only relevant and quality content appears on your site.
- Ongoing Monitoring: We monitor your site to detect and address spam before it becomes an issue.
Conclusion
Spam doesn’t just clutter your website, it can harm your business. By taking proactive measures like using anti-spam plugins, enabling comment moderation, and working with a trusted partner like Digiphore, you can keep your website clean, secure, and trustworthy. Protect your business and your visitors by making spam prevention a priority.
