How to Add reCAPTCHA to WordPress Comment Section?

Are you looking to add reCAPTCHA to your WordPress comment section? Nowadays, spam comment has become a worrying issue for websites and especially WordPress websites and as technology moves forward spambots get more intelligent and can easily overcome security layers.

Dealing with spam comments can be unpleasant for WordPress users. Because nowadays spam comment is produced by bots that enter your website and they can cause a lot of issues for websites and even users’ information. Thus, WordPress webmasters and website owners prefer to disable their comment section.

But instead of disabling the comment section, it’s best to use CAPTCHA which is one of the best ways to deal with spam comments. If you would like to know more about stopping spam comments, check out our article on how to disable WordPress spam comments.

There are also WordPress comment plugins that offer advanced features that allow you to customize WordPress comments form.  

In this article, we will teach you how to add reCAPTCHA to the WordPress comment section. 

What Is Google reCAPTCHA?

The Google reCAPTCHA is the advanced version of CAPTCHA technology which differentiates actual users from bots. CAPTCHA is short for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart”.

In 2009 Google bought a version of this technology from the University of Carnegie Mellon and renamed it to reCAPTCHA.

reCAPTCHA simplified the process and made it easier for users to pass the test. In fact, reCAPTCHA is designed to allow users to pass the test with a simple click.

Almost everyone goes through reCAPTCHA test every day and almost every webmaster uses it on their websites. If for any reason you cannot pass the test, a new challenge will be presented to you and you have to solve the puzzle and find the right images to pass the test.

Google offered reCAPTCHA to the public completely free and website owners can use it in their comment section, contact us form and even login page to block bots and prevent spam comment.

How to Add reCAPTCHA to WordPress Comment Section

Google reCAPTCHA is a powerful plugin, which adds Google’s reCAPTCHA technology to your WordPress comment section to prevent spam comments.

This plugin can be used for the comment section, sign-up, login page, bb press, body press, WooCommerce, forgot your password page, password recovery page and many other forms and pages. Google reCAPTCHA increases your website’s security and blocks spam comments.

Some of the important features of this plugin are:

• Offers 3 reCAPTCHA tests. “I’m not a robot” is the most popular.
• You can change the language
• You can change the error message. (for example, you can change ‘I’m not a robot’ and change the styling of it)
• There is an option to hide CAPTCHA from logged in users
• You can display CAPTCHA even if JavaScript is disabled

1. Register website for Google reCAPTCHA API

To enable Google reCAPTCHA plugin on your website and to add reCAPTCHA checkbox to your comment section you need two APIs.

To receive the API codes, visit the Google reCAPTCHA website and click on the admin console on the top right corner of the main page.

You need to log in with your Google account. Once you are logged in you can see “Register a new site” page.

Here you have to enter your website’s information. First, enter your website’s name or any other name in the “Label” section. In the future, you can identify your website with this name.

Then click on “reCAPTCHA V2”. By doing so, you’d see three options. Since you want to add a reCAPTCHA checkbox to your website, you must choose “I’m not a robot checkbox” option.

In the domains section, enter your domain name. This will add reCAPTCHA checkbox to that domain.

You can also add more domains and sub-domains. You have to simply click on (+). This allows you to use the same API codes for your other websites.

In the “Owners” section, Google will add your email address you can also add another email address.

Next, you have to agree with the terms and services of Google reCAPTCHA.

Also, by clicking on “Send alerts to owner” Google sends you an email if they see any suspicious activity or incorrect configuration.

Once you have completed the form you have click on register. In this step, Google reCAPTCHA will display a success message along with your API codes. Now you have to copy & paste your API codes to your plugin.

2. Add reCAPTCHA to WordPress comment section

Follow these steps to add reCAPTCHA to your WordPress comment section:

First Step: Installation

You need to install and activate reCAPTCHA plugin for your WP comments form plugin.

Once you’ve activated reCAPTCHA, you need to head over to settings and preview reCAPTCHA in your comment section, and configure the plugin. The plugin will ask you to enter the API codes which you’ve received from Google.

Second Step: Adding reCAPTCHA to WordPress comment section

To do so, you need to head over to Settings > Comment forms and click on reCAPTCHA. You need to scroll down and add API codes you have received.

After entering your API codes click on “Save your Google reCAPTCHA API keys pair”.

The last step to activate reCAPTCHA is to click on “toggle” and finally save your changes.

You can also personalize reCAPTCHA by clicking on customizing. This plugin has a feature that allows you to decide what to do with spam comments.

Keep in mind, reCAPTCHA checkbox is only displayed to users who are not logged in. So to see it, you need to visit the website in incognito.

Conclusion

With the rise of spam comments, controlling them could be difficult and websites that need to use the comment section are challenged every day.

On the other hand, the best way to deal with the comment section on WordPress websites is by using the Google reCAPTCHA plugin, which can identify users from bots and blocks spam comments.

Also, installing and activating this plugin is very simple and you can do it in less than an hour and turn your website into anti-spam software.  

At this point, if you want to secure any of your WordPress posts, pages, or categories, please read the article we published on the best WordPress password protection plugins, currently available on our website

Read this article to find out how to customize the login page in WordPress, tweak it, and select the appropriate plugin for your needs.