How to: Stop WordPress Comment Spam

By StrangeWork.com: I’ve been receiving a lot of spam comments on my WordPress blog recently. I decided to increase my defenses and stop comment spam once and for all. Using the below three plugins you can virtually eliminate WordPress comment spam from your blog!

All plugins work with WordPress 2.5.1

Akismet – Most blog owners know of Akismet. Akismet is an excellent comment spam filter developed by the creators of WordPress and comes pre-installed on a WordPress blog. Akismet is 100% free for non-commercial use but does require an API key provided by their website.

Simple Trackback Validation Plugin – This plugin checks if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to. Basically if the trackback was sent by a spam bot, this plugin will detect it and block it.

Bad Behavior – This plugin is a PHP-based solution for blocking link spam and the robots which deliver it. Bad Behavior works with other link spam solutions by acting as a gatekeeper, preventing spammers from ever delivering their junk, and in many cases, from ever reading your site in the first place.

Using this three-pronged plugin approach will stop 99.9% of your comment spam. Now you can enjoy a spam free blog!