The annoyance caused by spamming messages is sufficient reason to install a website spam blocker.
Spam refers to anything that isn’t related to your website that usually comes from unwanted traffic. If unattended, it can adversely impact your online presence by disengaging your genuine traffic from your website. This, in turn, translates into a lower SEO ranking for your site.
The most effective way of controlling spam is using a website spam blocker. There are several options in this category, and here are the standouts.
Akismet
Akismet is the most popular website spam blocker in Singapore. A product of Automattic, the company behind WordPress, this software plugin works by uploading all incoming comments to your website to a cloud-based server. The server then uses its anti-spam algorithms to filter out the unwanted content from the relevant content. This ensures that only correct comments are posted on your site, while the rest are forwarded to the spam folder.
Key Features
- Akismet is free for non-profits and personal use. This is limited to 50,000 spam checks per month.
- The cheapest commercial license goes for $5 monthly.
- Allows you to view all comments, including the ones identified by spam by the software.
Anti-Spam Bee
If you want a spam blocker that is completely free for both personal and commercial uses, install Anti-Spam Bee. This plugin doesn’t require registration. Unlike Akismet, this option doesn’t use a cloud-based server to detect spam – rather, it uses server-side techniques, such as checking the comments against a public spam database, authenticating the IP addresses of the commenters, using regular expressions, and trusting commenters who use avatars. This blocker also keeps a record of IP addresses so that known spammers are prevented from commenting on your website the next time they choose to spam.
Key features
- Blocks all activities from particular IP addresses and countries. There is also a provision of blocking comments with different languages.
- Logs spammers to a public database.
- Automatically deletes spam content after a stipulated period.
- Allows you to see monthly spamming statistics on the dashboard.
CleanTalk
CleanTalk is a cloud-based spam filter that allows you to prevent the posting of unwanted comments on your website in Singapore. Its most significant advantage over other similar software is that it goes about its business quietly – that is, it is unnoticeable to visitors because it doesn’t require captcha or other methods to tell genuine traffic apart from spamming bots. CleanTalk is compatible with the most popular content management systems; it is available for Joomla, Drupal and WordPress websites.
Key features
- Unnoticeable spam protection ensures that visitors have a convenient browsing experience without having to fill the captcha.
- Keeps logs of all processes and allows you to see the results of spam filters. Moreover, regular analysis of parameters allows you to spot the latest spam patterns of behaviour.
- Provides a weekly summary of all spamming activity on your website.
- Offers a comprehensive protection solution for all forms in your website, including registration, comments, feedback, contacts, and so forth.
- Easy to set up and use.
- 24/7 technical support.
Captcha
Captcha is an acronym that stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. It is a program that stops spam by generating and grading tests that are unsolvable by computer programs, but solvable by human beings. While it isn’t particularly convenient or aesthetic, it is certainly effective.
Key features
- It is available for free
- It is compatible with several platforms and programming environments
- Supports textual, visual and audio tests. This means that visually impaired people can navigate your website.
- It doesn’t require registration from users.
Anti-spam
Anti-spam is an easy to use a plugin that automatically blocks unwanted content from the commenting section. With this software, you have the option of either storing or deleting blocked comments in the spam folder. If needed, you can easily convert the blocked comments into regular comments.
Key features
- Anti-spam is GDPR compliant and doesn’t keep logs of any user information other than the blocked comments.
- It works only on comments. Other forms such as registration, feedback and order are not supported.
- It is compatible with all modern browsers.
WordPress Zero Spam
Another effective anti-spam protection tool is the WordPress Zero Spam plugin. It automatically blocks any unwanted content from your website’s registration forms as well as the commenting section. The plugin uses a server and client side JavaScript key validation to prevent spamming bots from littering your site with irrelevant content. This means that users who have disabled JavaScript on their browsers can’t comment on your website.
Key features
- Free for both personal and commercial use
- Compatible with caching plugins to improve its performance.
- Permanently blocks spamming IP addresses
- Supports optional logging which allows you to see the identity of the spammers.
- Advanced configurations give more control over spam.
Stop Spammers
Stop Spammers is an aggressive website spam blocker that protects your website from irrelevant comments and spam login attempts. It can perform more than 20 different checks for spamming content, as well as block such content from over 100 different countries. This tool can be considered too aggressive for some websites because it employs several methods of identifying spam.
When Stop Spammers identifies irrelevant content, it gives the users a second opportunity to log in or post their comments. If the request is denied, a captcha dialogue box appears to prevent other users from getting blocked.
Key features
- Prevents spam in the login forms and the commenting section.
- Uses captcha when a user is suspected of being a spammer.
Cerber Security, Antispam & Malware Scan
Cerber Security is a comprehensive website protection solution that defends your site from cyber-attacks and spamming content. It uses a combination of the socialized Cerber anti-spam engine and Google’s reCAPTCHA to protect unwanted use of your site’s registration, contact and comments forms.
Key features
- After detecting spam comments, it moves them to the trash folder and blocks the responsible user permanently.
- The ant-spam engine defends your website contact and registration forms from spamming bots.
- Invisible reCAPTCHA for WordPress comments forms.
Sblam!
Sblam! is an online tool that blocks spamming posts from appearing in blog comments, forums and guestbooks. It detects spam on the server side, meaning that users don’t have to do tests to prove that they are human.
Key features
- If a spammer is identified, they are blocked on every website that has Sblam!
- It uses several anti-spam techniques to increase its accuracy.
- Compatible with all browsers
- Accessible to visually impaired users
- Gives you control over spamming content, you can moderate it, block it or ask the user to re-edit.
- It has a vast database of commonly used spamming content, such as words, phrases, links and IP addresses.
WPBruiser {no- Captcha anti-Spam}
WPBruiser, previously known as Goodbye Captcha, is a highly effective security and anti-spam plugin that uses algorithms to detect and blocks unwanted content from your website. It prevents bots from signing up, commenting and even making brute force attacks on your website. WPBruiser is undetectable to the visitor, meaning that they don’t have to deal with nuisances such as captcha.
Unlike other spam blockers, WPBruiser does not store spam on your website. This ensures that your site remains secure and maintains fast loading speeds.
Key features
- Allows you to choose what forms to protect with the click of a button.
- Provides statistics, reports and other relevant data concerning all blocked spam attempts.
- Compatible with cache plugins.
- Allows you to manually block and unblock IP addresses.
Blackhole for Bad Bots
Blackhole for Bad Bots allows you to create a virtual black hole for spammers and hackers. It works by adding a hidden link that is invisible to the human eye. This link automatically detects and blocks any potential spamming bots that attempt to post content on your website.
Blackhole only affects spamming bots. It is completely harmless to good bots and human users.
Key Features
- Easy to set up and run
- Lightweight, fast and flexible.
- Works silently behind the scene
- It is regularly updated with the latest spambot definitions
- Compatible with other security plugins
Analytics Spam Blocker
Google Analytics is an invaluable tool for every website owner in Singapore. It shows the amount of traffic to your site, as well as the most popular pages, the activities and other important information. The role of the Analytics Spam Blocker is preventing spam bots from tampering this crucial data.
Key features
- It blocks spam bots by checking them against an integrated blacklist that is regularly updated.
- Subscription is optional, but only subscribers are eligible to the updates mentioned above.
- The list is updated by users who report suspicious domains.
User Spam Remover
User Spam Remover is a WordPress plugin that automatically deletes spam user registrations and other inactive accounts from your website. Also, it blocks the notification email that you receive every time a new user register on your site. The best bit about this tool is the configuration panel that allows you to turn these features on or off.
Key features
- Automatically deletes spam accounts and inactive accounts.
- Easy to install and use. It doesn’t interfere with user registration.
- Supports whitelisting of specific users
- Keeps a comprehensive log of user activities and backs up all user account to allow for easy restoration if the need arises.
Spam Destroyer
Spam Destroyer prevents automated spam activities while reaming unnoticeable to genuine website users. This plugin emphasizes simplicity and is recommended for small websites in Singapore.
Key features
- Easy to install and use
- Lightweight
- Works behind the scenes and is unnoticeable to users.
Spam Master
Spam Master is designed to protect your website from spam registrations and comments that are highly prevalent in Singapore. It uses real-time block lists technology to protect your website from millions of known spam emails comments, domains and IP addresses. Moreover, this tool has a Spam Learning function that identifies spamming links and includes them on the list mentioned above.
Key Features
- Provides a comprehensive report showing the stats concerning spam, such as number of blocked users, blocked comments, number of trashed comments and so on.
- Spam Master only loads when needed, ensuring that your site maintains its speeds.
- Supports character blocking – this feature allows you to block pots made in particular languages.
- Allows you to customize the frontend blocked registration message.
- It has an integrated firewall that prevents bots from entering your site.
StopBadBots
StopBadBots is a self-contained website spam blocker that protects your site from harmful bots. Such bots usually post spam comments, create fake accounts and in some cases, steal data from your website.
Key features
- The bat bots lists are constantly updated for free.
- The premium version includes a firewall.
- Easy to install
- Lightweight
Bad Behavior
Bad Behavior is a PHP-based solution for blocking spam and the bots used to deliver it to your website. It works seamlessly with other spam blockers by filtering all website traffic and blocking any suspected spammers. It is different from other anti-spam solutions in that it analyses the mode of delivery and the software used by the spammer. This allows it to detect new types of spamming content.
Key features
- Installation takes a few minutes.
- Compatible with many website development platforms.
- It operates seamlessly with other spam blockers.
Astounding Spam Prevention
Astounding Spam Prevention is an anti-spam plugin that uses the most powerful features from other spam blockers to protect your site from spam registrations and comments. It is a fork of the Stop Spammers plugin. However, it is not as aggressive and doesn’t prevent users from logging in.
Key features
- It doesn’t interfere with the login process.
- It has many new methods of spam detection.
Conclusion
If you own a website in Singapore, it is advisable to install a website spam blocker. Having spam on your website has more damaging effects than lowering your ranking on search engine results. For instance, it can dent your brand image and significantly reduce the number of leads generated through your website.
On the other hand, if your website is free of spam, it boosts your reputation and can steer your business venture to greater heights.
Get in touch with us for pro web design services and more details about how to keep your Singapore website free of spam.
