In the ever-changing landscape of the online world, fighting WordPress spam user registration and WooCommerce spam user registration can seem like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Just when you think you have it under control, new spam accounts appear, forcing you to tirelessly delete them. The frustration only gets worse when you consider the barrage of spam emails from domains like email. email free. cc, mailbox. email free. cc that accompany these records. It takes a lot of time to sort through spam and find legitimate spam.
On the other hand, some websites thrive on subscription features. For example, membership can help you create a community of like-minded people. So how do you deal with fake WordPress user registrations? In this article, we will provide you with effective strategies to finally put an end to spammy user registrations in WordPress.
What are WordPress spam user registrations?
Post-spam registration is a persistent problem that WordPress site administrators face. , characterized by the creation of multiple fake user accounts on their website. These accounts are often created by spammers and serve a variety of malicious purposes, such as spreading malware, running scams, or engaging in other harmful activities. >These accounts are largely due to the lack of strong login security measures in the default registration form. The default registration process in WordPress is often simple and straightforward, lacking essential anti-spam mechanisms like reCAPTCHA or two-factor authentication (2FA). This allows spammers to bypass any form of verification or authentication, allowing them to quickly create large numbers of fake accounts.
How to stop spam user registrations in WordPress?
To effectively prevent spam users from registering in WordPress, consider implementing the following strategies:
Enable protection reCAPTCHA protection
Integrate reCAPTCHA, a widely used security measure, into your registration process. This helps verify that real users are registering while also preventing automated bots. While we realize that this causes additional inconvenience for customers, reCAPTCHA provides a great opportunity for bot detection. It is integrated with several popular form builders or page builder plugins. So the process will vary depending on the plugin you use.
Use a dedicated WordPress registration spam plugin
Some general-purpose WordPress spam plugins can also help prevent Block spam registrations on WordPress. are spam in other areas, such as your comments section or form submissions.
Unfortunately, Automattic’s popular Akismet comment spam plugin doesn’t work for subscription spam, but the Other popular subscription spam blocking options include:
- Stop Spammers
- CleanTalk
- WPBruiser
- WordPress Zero Spam
These plugins, once more, help you block spam registrations as part of your company’s general anti-spam efforts, but they are not limited to registration spam.
Require Admin Approval for New Users
Another effective approach is to require admin approval for new users if you’re concerned about what people do after registering, besides the spam accounts themselves.
For instance, requiring admin approval makes it possible to avoid that scenario if you’re worried about people spamming your bbPress forum or BuddyPress community.
This one should be combined with a CAPTCHA or another approach because it will eliminate low-level automated spam and manual approval will eliminate it.
However, if you try to implement this strategy alone and have a ton of spam registrations, you might find yourself overwhelmed sorting through the registrations.
Use the free WP Approve User plugin to get new users ‘admin approval.
The plugin immediately starts working once you install and activate it. To avoid conflicts, all of your current users will already be approved.
However, new users will need manual approval from the WordPress dashboard’s existing users area:
- Approved
- Unapproved
By going to Settings> Approve User, you can enable these emails and change their content.
Block Malicious IP addresses
You can reduce the issue by preventing those IP addresses from allowing those IP addresses to access your site in the first place if the bulk of your registration spam is coming from the same IP addresses.
You should also receive an IP blocking tool from the majority of cPanel hosts.
Change the WordPress registration URL
You can change the URL of your registration page to the default that all WordPress websites use to reduce low-level bot traffic by adding some “security by obscurity” to your registration page.
You can change the WordPress login URL using any plugin that enables this since the registration page is a part of the login page.
The free WPS Hide Login plugin is a good choice.
Go to Settings> WPS Hide Login to enter your new URL once the plugin is installed. You can also change the default URL to a different page, such as the 404 page.
The default registration page will no longer function if, for instance, you modify your login URL to your site .com/sneaky login. Your new login page would be yours.com/sneakylogin/. register.
Use a Custom WordPress Registration Form Plugin
The use of a custom WordPress registration form plugin is another effective way to stop spam in WordPress registration forms.
These plugins enable the normal WordPress registration process as well as several effective anti-spam strategies:
- Custom Registration URL: Changing your registration URL to a custom one can reduce some low-level spam, but it’s unlikely to eliminate user registration spam on its own.
- Email confirmation: Requiring new users to confirm their emails, prevents spammers from sending fake emails to recipients. The plugin will delete a user’s registration if they don’t confirm their email.
- Admin approval for new users: installing the above-mentioned admin approval feature is typically made easier with these plugins.
- Spam prevention: These plugins can also add CAPTCHA or honeypot fields to your unique registration form.
Many WordPress form plugins have anti-spam features that can be used to create unique registration forms. The drawback is that the premium version typically only offers the registration features. Some good choices are:
- With the Elite license, you can use the user registration add-on for Gravity Forms.
- Formidable forms are included with the Business License’s User Registration Add-On.
Let’s take a closer look at how to use the free solutions that the User Registration and Profile Builder plugins offer.
Set user roles
Create distinctions between administrators and regular users by assigning particular user roles. The potential impact of spam user registrations on WordPress can be reduced by limiting user accounts ‘privileges. How do you go about doing it:
Open your web browser and navigate to the admin panel for your WordPress website. To log in, enter your username and password.
Access the User Roles Settings
Locate the “Users” tab in the left sidebar menu once logged in.
User Roles can be edited.
Locate the user on the user management page’s list. You can hover over the user’s name to see several options. Click the “Edit “button when you want to.
Choose the appropriate user role
Scroll down until you see the Role section on the Edit User page. Choose the appropriate user role from the drop-down menu and click the appropriate button.
Implement Geoblocking
With the help of geoblocking, WordPress spam user registrations can be restricted to specific geographic areas with high spam activity. You can significantly reduce the creation of spam accounts by preventing fake user registrations in these areas. Geo-blocking is useful when traffic is not coming from a particular country, but it isn’t a practical solution on its own. MalCare can block nations, but we suggest leaving the firewall alone to do the blocking. You can learn how to geo-block using a guide in an article.
Double opt-in activation
Users must confirm their accounts via email confirmation to activate their accounts. This additional step significantly reduces the likelihood of spam registrations by requiring only legitimate email addresses to be registered. Double opt-ins are also reliable indicators of user intent and are highly recommended from a UX perspective. The installation process for this feature varies based on the plugin you choose because it is integrated with some email marketing plugins.
Implement multi-factor registration
Use multi-factor authentication when registering online. To add an extra layer of security, this requires combining email verification, SMS verification, or other authentication methods. There are some security plugins included, and installation instructions will vary depending on the product.
Summary
Registration spam can be a frustrating problem if you want to allow public registration on your WordPress site. Using a variety of tactics, registration spam can be completely reduced or even eliminated.
The WordPress registration form’s default reCAPTCHA is the simplest and lightest option. Although the majority of human visitors won’t notice anything about it, Google will display the CAPTCHA tests to bots to stop them from registering as spam.
A custom registration form with its anti-spam properties as well as features like admin approval for new users can also be created using a dedicated WordPress registration plugin.