How do I Bulk Delete and Protect Against Future Spam Comments in Wordpress

Published: June 27, 2020

If you have a Wordpress website, then you're probably very familiar with how easy it is to collect spam comments in your forms. Thankfully these spam comments are harmless when untouched (don't click any suspicious links in a spam comment!) and there is a really easy way to delete them in bulk.

Bulk deleting spam comments is simple and you can do it manually or with a plugin. To do it manually, go Comments, Spam, then click the Empty Spam button on the right side of the menu. However, this can take a long time and slow down your servers, which is why using plugins is also a great way to do this. The Batch Comment Spam Deletion plugin simply speeds up the above process by breaking it into batches, reducing strain on your server.

The Delete Pending Comments is another way of doing this, and if you have hundreds or thousands of spam comments built up, this is the easiest way to clear them out. It is important to note though that this will delete all pending comments. First, install the plugin, and once activated, when you hover your mouse over Comments on the left sidebar, you will see Delete All Pending Comments in the menu that drops down. Click it and once the comments are deleted, feel free to delete the plugin.

Now you're spam-free! But while the above process is easy, it doesn't protect you from getting any future spam. There are a few good ways that when used together are great at preventing any future spam comments from reaching you.

First, check out the great selection of anti-spam plugins. Akismet is possibly the most used one and it works really well - just be sure to keep it updated. Secondly, go through your discussion settings and adjust them to fit your needs. Having Comment Author Must Fill Out Name and Email is a great option to keep checked as it can help prevent bots from sending spam. Lastly, adding a captcha to your forms beefs up the security factor.