Spam comments and how to handle them

Spam comments are junk messages, usually posted by software, that exist to get a link or an advertisement onto your website. The way to handle them is simple: review comments before they appear publicly, delete the junk without clicking anything in it, add a basic filter or human check, and turn comments off on any page where they aren't earning their keep. You don't need technical skills for any of it.

Here's how each piece works, in plain terms.

What spam comments are and why you get them

If your site lets visitors leave comments, automated programs (bots) will eventually find it. They don't care what your site is about. They scan the internet for any page with a comment box and fill it in thousands of times a day.

The goal is almost never to talk to you. Spammers want one of three things:

• A link back to their own site. They hope a link on yours helps their pages show up in search results. Mostly it doesn't, but it costs them nothing to try.
• Clicks from your visitors. The link may lead to a shop selling something dodgy, or a page designed to steal login details.
• Volume. Send enough comments to enough sites and a few will slip through.

Spam is not a sign that you did something wrong, and it's not a sign your site is hacked. It just means your site is visible enough to be found.

How to spot spam and clear it out

Most spam is easy to recognize once you've seen a few. Look for:

• Generic praise that could fit any page. "Great post, very informative, thanks for sharing!" on an article it clearly didn't read.
• Links in the comment or in the name field. A commenter whose name is a web address or a product phrase is a giveaway.
• Odd wording. Broken grammar, random capital letters, or sentences that don't connect to your topic.
• Offers. Anything about loans, pills, gambling, SEO services, or "make money from home."
• Several near-identical comments arriving within minutes.

When you find one, delete it. Don't click the link to "see what it is," and don't reply, because a reply tells a bot or its owner that somebody is watching. If you're unsure whether a comment is real, ask whether it says anything specific about your actual content. A real reader usually mentions something particular, even briefly. If it doesn't, and it carries a link, delete it.

Don't leave spam sitting there. A page full of junk comments looks neglected to real visitors, and any links in it can point your readers to places you'd never recommend.

How to stop most of it before it appears

Cleaning up by hand works when you get a couple a week. When it's dozens, put a few barriers in place. Look for these options in your site's comment settings:

1. Approve comments first. Often called "moderation." Nothing appears publicly until you approve it, so spam never reaches your visitors even if it reaches your inbox. This is the single most useful setting.
2. Require a name and email. Not a cure, but it filters out the laziest bots.
3. Add a human check. This is the "I'm not a robot" box or a simple puzzle. It stops a lot of automated posting while barely bothering real people.
4. Limit links. Many comment tools can hold any comment containing more than one link for review. Since spam is mostly about links, this catches a lot.
5. Block repeat words. If the same product name keeps showing up, add it to a blocked-words list.

Not sure which of these your site offers? Check our frequently asked questions, or get in touch and ask. It's better to ask than to guess at settings you can't see.

Should you just turn comments off?

Sometimes, yes. Here's a rule for deciding:

• Keep comments on if real people use them. If readers ask questions, share experiences, or you've had genuine conversations in the comments, they're worth a few minutes of moderation each week.
• Turn them off if you've had no real comments in months, or if you don't have time to check them. An unwatched comment box is the one most likely to fill with junk.
• Turn them off on older posts if you want to keep comments for new ones. Bots love old pages nobody is monitoring.
• Switch to another way to reach you if you mostly want questions and feedback. A contact page does the job without a public comment section.

Turning comments off doesn't hurt how your site looks to visitors or search engines. A site with a clean, quiet page is better than one with a visible pile of spam.

Your next step

Open your site's comments, delete anything that looks like spam, and switch on "approve before publishing." That takes a few minutes and solves most of the problem.

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