You have a new WordPress website, which immediately means you need to worry about spam in your comments. The easiest and fasted way is to activate the Akismet plugin that is included with every WordPress installation. There are just a few steps to getting Akismet to work, so here you go:
- Sign up for a new user name/account at wordpress.com for a user name/account, not a blog. (Select the radio button that says “Just a username, please.”) You need to do this in order to acquire an API Key, necessary for running Akismet.
- Once you’re logged into your new account, in the upper left corner, click on “My Account.”
- From the drop-down menu, choose “Global Dashboard”
- From the menu on the left hand side, click on “Personal Settings.”
- Your API Key will be at the top of the page. Copy that key.
- Go to your website wp-admin page and log in.
- Click on plugins.
- Activate Akismet.
- You’ll see a note at the top of your screen saying that you need to enter info to make Akismet work. Click on that link.
- Paste in the API Key you got from wordpress.com into the proper field and save changes.
- Your Akismet is working and will filter spam in your comments.
Note: The filter isn’t perfect. You will see some comments make it through that resemble normal text. Always check the email address before approving one of these comments. If it’s something that doesn’t look personal, it’s likely spam and you should delete it.