To prevent spam on Contact Form 7 (a popular WordPress plugin for creating contact forms), you can implement several techniques. Here are some of the most effective methods:


1. Use reCAPTCHA v3 or v2

  • reCAPTCHA v3 is an invisible solution that tracks user behavior to identify bots without requiring user interaction.
  • reCAPTCHA v2 includes the well-known “I am not a robot” checkbox or image selection tasks.

How to Set Up reCAPTCHA:

  1. Go to the Contact section of your WordPress dashboard, then click on Integration.
  2. Click on reCAPTCHA, and follow the instructions to obtain API keys from Google.
  3. Once integrated, reCAPTCHA will protect all your forms.

2. Honeypot for Contact Form 7

  • A honeypot is an anti-spam technique where a hidden field is added to the form. Spam bots usually fill out this field, but human users won’t.

How to Use Honeypot:

  1. Install and activate the Contact Form 7 Honeypot plugin.
  2. Edit your form, and add the [honeypot your-field-name] tag.
  3. This will add a hidden field that bots are likely to interact with, helping you identify spam.

3. Use Spam Protect for Contact Form 7

  • Install Spam Protect for Contact Form 7 plugin
  • Block CF& submission by domain name, keyword, & email( you may easily notice this once the website is on production side and block by domain and email)
  • Common keyword used on setting is "sexy, girls, viagra, dating, casino, forex, mg, demo, hack, ru, AI, SEO"(you can set this ahead).

4. Limit Form Submissions(Optional)

  • Limit the number of submissions allowed from a single IP address within a certain time frame. This helps prevent spam bots from submitting forms in rapid succession.

How to Use It:

  1. Install and configure a plugin like Limit Form Submissions.
  2. You can set submission limits (e.g., only 1 submission per minute per IP address).

5. Disable Auto-Complete in Fields(Optional)

  • Spam bots can exploit autocomplete features to quickly fill out forms. Disabling autocomplete can help prevent automated spam submissions.

How to Disable Auto-Complete:

  • Add the following attribute to your form fields: autocomplete="off".

6. Block Specific IP Addresses

  • If you're receiving a lot of spam from certain IPs, you can block them using your server settings or a security plugin like Wordfence.

Conclusion

By using a combination of these techniques, such as reCAPTCHA, honeypot fields, Akismet, and submission limits, you can significantly reduce the amount of spam you receive through Contact Form 7.


Hope this helps!


Thank you