WPBeginner

Beginner's Guide for WordPress

  • Blog
    • Beginners Guide
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Showcase
    • Themes
    • Tutorials
    • WordPress Plugins
  • Start Here
    • How to Start a Blog
    • Create a Website
    • Start an Online Store
    • Best Website Builder
    • Email Marketing
    • WordPress Hosting
    • Business Name Ideas
  • Deals
    • Bluehost Coupon
    • SiteGround Coupon
    • WP Engine Coupon
    • HostGator Coupon
    • Domain.com Coupon
    • Constant Contact
    • View All Deals »
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Products
X
☰
Beginner's Guide for WordPress / Start your WordPress Blog in minutes
Choosing the Best
WordPress Hosting
How to Easily
Install WordPress
Recommended
WordPress Plugins
View all Guides

WPBeginner» Blog» Plugins» How to Use Antispam Bee to Block Spam Comments in WordPress

How to Use Antispam Bee to Block Spam Comments in WordPress

Last updated on April 5th, 2018 by Editorial Staff
111 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Free WordPress Video Tutorials on YouTube by WPBeginner
How to Use Antispam Bee to Block Spam Comments in WordPress

Are you getting a lot of spam comments on your WordPress blog? Spam comments can become a big issue as your website grows. In this article, we will share how to use the Antispam Bee plugin to block spam comments in WordPress.

How to Block Spam Comments in WordPress

Why You Should Block or Delete Spam Comments?

Spam comments take up unnecessary space in your WordPress hosting database. What’s worst is if you accidentally approve a spam comment, then it makes your brand look bad.

There are multiple ways to block spam comments in WordPress. You can do it manually by reading and deleting them one by one, but that could take hours.

Mark Spam Comments

Alternatively, you can use the free Antispam Bee plugin to automatically block the spam comments based on the rules that you set.

Let’s take a look at how to block spam comments in WordPress with Antispam Bee plugin.

Using Antispam Bee to Block Spam Comments

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Antispam Bee plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once activated, you need to go to the Settings » Antispam Bee page in your WordPress admin area.

Settings Page

On this screen, you will see the Antispam Bee settings divided in three sections: Antispam Filter, Advanced tools and More options.

Antispam Filter

Antispam Filter settings are the basic settings that help you detect spam comments. This allows you to filter and review the comments before they show on your blog posts or website.

These settings are organized in an order which they execute. We have explained each setting in the descriptions below.

Antispam Filters

Trust approved commenters

You can enable this option to automatically approve comments from regular and trustworthy commenters. These commenters may post valid comments and generate conversations on your blog posts, so the plugin remembers them and approve their comments right away.

Trust commenters with a Gravatar

This setting will allow you to approve comments from users with a specific Gravatar image and posting valid comments. It is the same technique as approved commenters, but with this setting the plugin will remember the Gravatar of the trustworthy comment makers.

Consider the comment time

If enabled, the filter will considers the comment time. This setting is not recommended by the plugin author for blogs or websites using page caching.

BBCode is spam

It is a recommended setting to check comments with BBCode (Bulletin Board Code) links and mark them as spam. These links format are widely used by spammers to highlight words and links.

Validate the IP address of commenters

The plugin allows you to validate the IP addresses used by the commenters to check their network information like hostname. This helps in finding the online background of the commenter to decide if the comment is useful or spam.

Use regular expressions

If enabled, it helps in finding the unwanted comments with a set of predefined patterns that are useful to detect spam.

Look in the local spam database

If you check this option, it will look for the spam content on your site’s database and then treat it as you define further settings for the spam.

Use a public antispam database

This setting is linked with the Stop Forum Spam to detect IP addresses of active spammers and quickly check the history of the commenters. It works with the complete IP addresses of the senders, so the commenters from EU countries will be avoided.

Block comments from specific countries

You can add the list of specific countries to filter spam comments. The Blacklist and Whitelist ISO codes are given with this setting, so you can easily declare the country codes in the respective sections.

Block Comments from Countries

Allow comments only in certain language

This setting allows you to specify a language for the commenters, so comments in all other languages will be blocked or deleted as you define later.

Allow Comments of a Language

Advanced Tools

In the advanced settings, you can further set the options to manage, block and delete the unwanted comments. There are few settings that are enabled by default however you can make changes to these settings as needed.

Advanced Tools

Mark as spam, do not delete

If you enable this setting, it will keep the spam comments and won’t delete them until you enable the settings below.

Spam-Notification by email

If you enable this option, then you will receive an email notification for every spam comment. We do not recommend this setting because it’ll become extremely annoying really fast.

Do not save the spam reason

If enabled, this setting will not store the suspicious values of a comment in a separate column. These suspicious values can be the formatted links, comment time and more.

Delete existing spam after X days

This is an important option because it allows you to define the number of days after which the spam comments are automatically deleted. It is linked with many other settings that we discussed above about deleting the comments.

Limit approval to Comments/Pings

This option will define whether you want to approve comments or trackbacks. If you limit approval to comments, then trackbacks will be automatically deleted. Similarly, if you limit approval to trackbacks, then the spam comments will be automatically deleted from your blog or website.

In case this option is not enabled, it follows the previous settings.

Delete comments by spam reasons

You can delete comments with predefined spam reasons. You can select multiple reasons from the options to delete the unwanted comments automatically.

Delete Comments by Spam Reason

These advanced settings will make your life easy while reviewing comments on your site.

More Options

After the advanced settings, you can take a look in the reporting options to display your daily spam updates on WordPress admin dashboard area.

These reports will help you monitor the spam comments easily, and you can also analyze between the numbers of useful and unwanted comments.

More Settings

Generate statistics as a dashboard widget

If enabled, this setting will create a spam report in an interactive widget for your WordPress admin dashboard area. These statistics will give you an overview about the spam comments on your blog.

Spam counter on the dashboard

If enabled, it will display the number of total comments marked as spam in a prominent style. If you are deleting the spam comments, then it will also show the number of deleted comments in an additional column. Some new bloggers find it fun to look at this number after they first start their blog.

Do not check trackbacks / pingbacks

By default, the plugin put a check on all the comments, trackbacks and pings. You can avoid checking the trackbacks with this setting. If enabled, the trackbacks / pingbacks from any site will be automatically approved.

Comment form used outside of posts

This option will monitor comments on your archive pages.

Once you are done, click on the Save Changes button to apply these settings on your blog.

That’s all. We hope this article helped you block spam comments in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to stop spam registrations on your WordPress membership site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

111 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Popular on WPBeginner Right Now!
  • How to Start Your Own Podcast (Step by Step)

    How to Start Your Own Podcast (Step by Step)

  • Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

    Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

  • Google Analytics in WordPress

    How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners

  • Checklist

    Checklist: 15 Things You MUST DO Before Changing WordPress Themes

About the Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Trusted by over 1.3 million readers worldwide.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

7 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Rushikesh says:
    Apr 6, 2018 at 12:26 am

    Which font style you are using in your wpbeginner blog, it’s really attractive and more readable.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Apr 8, 2018 at 3:04 pm

      Hi Rushikesh,

      We are using Proxima Nova font.

      Reply
  2. Debbie says:
    Apr 5, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    Is it his in place of or with Askimet? I’ve had good success with Askimet.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Apr 5, 2018 at 8:03 pm

      Hey Debbie,

      It can be used alongside Akismet.

      Reply
  3. Jo Martin says:
    Apr 5, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    Hi, I know about anti spam plugins but not much about each one, so I’m interested if you prefer this plugin over Akismet and why? Thanks.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Apr 5, 2018 at 8:07 pm

      Hi Jo,

      We recommend using Akismet. This plugin can accompany Akismet to add more thorough spam filtering. However, if Akismet is handling spam well enough for you, then you don’t need to install this plugin.

      Reply
  4. Tally Pendragon says:
    Apr 5, 2018 at 11:31 am

    Hi Syed,
    I love the name of Antispam Bee and really want to install it, but do I need to if I already have Akismet? I’m no expert and really have no idea what any of the plug-ins that have been recommended to me to get actually do, so I’m definitely bowing to your superior knowledge here with this question.
    Tally :-)

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

Over 1,320,000+ Readers

Get fresh content from WPBeginner

Featured WordPress Plugin
WPForms Logo
WPForms
Drag & Drop WordPress Form Builder Plugin. Learn More »
How to Start a Blog How to Start a Blog
I need help with ...
Starting a
Blog
WordPress
Performance
WordPress
Security
WordPress
SEO
WordPress
Errors
Building an
Online Store
Useful WordPress Guides
    • 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)
    • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
    • Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog? [Infographic]
    • 30 Legit Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
    • Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]
    • Free Recording: WordPress Workshop for Beginners
    • 24 Must Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
    • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
    • 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared
    • Which is the Best WordPress Popup Plugin? (Comparison)
    • Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2020 (Comparison)
    • How to Fix the Internal Server Error in WordPress
    • How to Install WordPress - Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial
    • Why You Should Start Building an Email List Right Away
    • How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO
    • How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Website
    • How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform (Comparison)
    • WordPress Tutorials - 200+ Step by Step WordPress Tutorials
    • 5 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins Compared
    • 5 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared)
    • 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2020)
    • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
    • The Truth About Shared WordPress Web Hosting
    • When Do You Really Need Managed WordPress Hosting?
    • 5 Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders Compared
    • How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings
    • How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • How to Properly Move from Weebly to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared
    • How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress
    • How to Register a Domain Name (+ tip to get it for FREE)
    • HostGator Review - An Honest Look at Speed & Uptime (2020)
    • SiteGround Reviews from 4196 Users & Our Experts (2020)
    • Bluehost Review from Real Users + Performance Stats (2020)
    • How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?
    • How to Create an Email Newsletter the RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)
    • Free Business Name Generator (A.I Powered)
    • How to Create a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes (Step by Step)
    • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners
    • How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtime
    • Why is WordPress Free? What are the Costs? What is the Catch?
    • How to Make a Website in 2020 – Step by Step Guide
Deals & Coupons (view all)
RafflePress - WordPress Giveaway and Contest Plugin
RafflePress Coupon
Get 20% off RafflePress, the best WordPress giveaway and contest plugin available in the market.
DreamPress
DreamPress Coupon
Get up to 16% OFF on DreamPress's powerful WordPress Hosting.
Featured In
About WPBeginner®

WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).
Join our team: We are Hiring!

Site Links
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FTC Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Free Blog Setup
  • Free Business Tools
Our Sites
  • OptinMonster
  • MonsterInsights
  • WPForms
  • SeedProd
  • Nameboy
  • RafflePress
  • Smash Balloon

Copyright © 2009 - 2021 WPBeginner LLC. All Rights Reserved. WPBeginner® is a registered trademark.

Managed by Awesome Motive | WordPress hosting by SiteGround | WordPress CDN by MaxCDN | WordPress Security by Sucuri.