This article will describe how to protect contact forms against robots and sending unwanted SPAM e-mails via CAPTCHA. We’ll explain what it is, what types of protection there are and how to activate them on your website.
What is Captcha
CAPTCHA is a website protection system created to distinguish human from automated machine or robot that is trying to attack your website. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. You might have encountered it already, it looks like this:
What types of CAPTCHA exist
- Logical – in a form of text or mathematical equation that needs to be solved before continuing to the send the form
- Text – rewriting a deformed text that only human brain can decipher to a field below will allow to send the form
- Picture – protection created by Google – selecting specific images based on specific condition, for example selecting all pictures with a road sign
- reCAPTCHA – protection from spam created by Google
What should I do if my contact forms are targeted by robots and misused to send SPAM?
Add CAPTHA protection to your website
Implementation differs in regards to language or content management system the website uses. Contact programmer of your website, if you have one, to discuss the possibility of using reCAPTCHA. If you manage your website yourself and you use your own PHP or HTML application, we would recommend to consult online tutorials to implement CAPTHA for your website.
reCAPTCHA WordPress installation
reCaptcha plugin is an effective security solution that protects your WordPress website forms from spam entries while letting real people pass through with ease. It can be used for login, registration, password recovery, comments, popular contact forms, and other. reCAPTCHA Version 3, Version 2, Invisible are included.
Installation guide
Download the plugin here and follow the installation steps written there. Install the plugin and activate it. You can install the plugin right from the WordPress administration in Plugin -> Add new. Search for plugin name “Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) by BestWebSoft” and start the installation. After installation do not forget to activate the plugin.
After the plugin is installed the protection is enabled by adding a shortcode “[bws_google_captcha]” to a specific page or form. We also recommend plugin for contact forms Contact form 7.
Useful tip
To secure your WordPress system we would also recommend to install additional security plugins such as All In One WP Security & Firewall or WordFence
Congratulations! Now are your forms secured against SPAM.