What's The Best Anti-Spam Plugin For WordPress?

Spam bots have become so efficient today that ordinary techniques used for spam protection such as security CAPTCHA, arithmetical problems or puzzles are no more useful when it comes to identifying the bad comments. Spam comments badly harm your blog content and ultimately your search ranking. Majority of blogs which are effected by Google penguin penalty are not serious in moderating the amount of spam links which are poor quality external links inserted through the site's comment form. This seriously harms your blog reputation and you suffer in the long run when it comes to ranking in SERPs.

 

Just recently I had been struggling hard fighting spam on two of our wordpress blogs. I had been been using Akismet Plugin to filter spam comments on my blogs but Akismet badly fails when it comes to identifying the smart spammers. Spammers who post flattery and cheesy comments such as:

Hi I love your blog content, you have shared some excellent piece of info. Thumbs up!
Hey wow, great article!
Very nice!
and so on

All these comments add no value to your blog content because they are not the least related to the content shared inside the article and make no sense at all. They surely increase your blog load time because every spam comment means that your browser needs to load an extra image avatar of the spammer, user name, email ID, website link and finally load the comment text. All of this info not only increases the work load on the browser but also effects your keyword density. All those off-topic words seriously distracts the attention of search robots from your primary keywords thus killing the essence of your content.

 

 

Akismet also does not stop spam registrations, subscriptions or contact emails, it is limited to fighting comment spam only to some extent. We needed a more robust, prompt and multi-purpose  anti-spam plugin for our wordpress sites that could not only provide comment spam protection but would also offer us useful options to stop fake registrations, emails and help us block spammers by IP/Email address, "stop words" or country name. A slight research and consultation from fellow bloggers lead me to a trustworthy anti-spam plugin developed by CleanTalk.

 

After installing the anti-spam plugin by CleanTalk, I was able to replace several different plugins such as Akismet and Captcha Plugins with CleanTalk and get much better results without sacrificing the load time. Not only are our over 4600+ comments scanned and moderated automatically on daily basis but it also helps us fight spam bots signups and contact emails. After seeing the significant improvement it has brought to our site SEO and load time, I thought of sharing this handy anti-spam plugin with all of you. The review today will focus on major features based on which we can conclude why CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin is the best WordPress Plugin for spam protection against fake comments, signups, contact emails and much more. 

• Read Also: Does Spam Comments Effect Website SEO?

How CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin Works on WordPress?

To determine the spam bots, CleanTalk uses series of tests, invisible to the visitor your website, and also checks if the message relates to the subject of the article or not. This allows providing 99.998% protection from spam bots, and you will not need to install extra protection.

1. Suppose a visitor writes a comment or registers on your WP site
2. CleanTalk plugin sends action parameters into the CleanTalk cloud
3. Service analyzes the parameters
4. If this is a visitor, the comment will surely be published. If it�s a spam bot, then CleanTalk blocks this comment or registration. That simple!

Parameters are then written to the anti-Spam log which can be viewed in the Control Panel service and users are also informed through weekly email newsletter report.
With such support one can surely turn off protection methods on website that force the user to take certain actions, such as:

• CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA,
• Questions/answers,
• Arithmetical problems, etc.

All of these methods are not only easily recognized and bypassed by bots, but also can become irritating for regular visitors.

CleanTalk prevents and automatically blocks Spam

CleanTalk is really efficient in recognizing spam. It automatically detects a spam and blocks it before it could harm your blog load time or SEO, thus allowing you to focus on building quality content instead of wasting precious hours in manually deleting the spam comments. The plugin offers multi-support against spam which includes:

1. Stops spam comments.
2. Stops spam registrations.
3. Stops spam contact emails.
4. Stops spam orders.
5. Stops spam bookings.
6. Stops spam subscriptions.
7. Stops spam in widgets.
8. Checks the existing comments for spam.

It's most interesting features include:

• SpamFireWall: Provides protection against hackers for popular attacks such as XML-RPC brute force, DDoS and more. This option allows to filter spam bots before they access your site. It also reduces CPU usage on hosting server and accelerates pages load time dramatically.
• Private Black/White lists for IP/email/IP networks - My personal Favorite!
• Blocking by countries
• Blocking by "Stop Words".

It also works just perfectly with the following plugins :

• WordPress, JetPack comments.
• WooCommerce review form.
• WordPress Landing Pages.
• BuddyPress, bbPress, S2Member, WooCommerce registrations.
• Contact form 7, JetPack Contact form, Formidable forms and so on

CleanTalk is also compatible with WordPress cache plugins

• W3 Total Cache, Quick Cache, WP Fastest Cache, Hyper Cache, WP Super cache, WP-Rocket and any other cache plugins.

How To Install CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin In WordPress?

Follow these easy steps to install CleanTalk Spam protection service on your wordpress blog:

1. Download CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin from wordpress repository.  
2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New
   
3. Click "Upload Plugin" button towards your top-left.
   
4. Locate the zip file and hit "Install Now"
   
5. Click "Activate Plugin"
6. On the next page in order to enable anti-spam protection, you will need to enter a free access key. Click "Get access key automatically button"
   
   You will also receive emails about your account activation.
   
7. Enable the "SpamFireWall" Option
   
8. Click Advanced settings links at the bottom and enable the following options:
   • Allow spam comments to be automatically deleted upon detection.
     
   • Check "collect details about browsers" option  
   You can enable other options such ass SSL and Woocommerce checkout form if you are using them else leave all options as default.
   
9. Click "Save Changes" and you are done with the installation!

CleanTalk Dashboard and Spam Analytics

Next Click the link that says "Check comments for spam" from your navbar:

This is the result I got:

All my 4678 comments were instantly scanned and 17 spam comments were detected and removed. Please note that those 17 comments were ignored by Akismet Plugin which I previously used. This shows how effective and accurate CleanTalk is in detecting and blocking spam.
You can also check users for spam to see if any of your co-author or contributor may be misusing the site in any way.

CleanTalk Helps To Block Users By Country/IP/Email

If you click the "CleanTalk Dashboard" link you will see tons of options to moderate your site comments. An AntiSpam log is updated every 3 minutes to inform you about the spam protection activity going on your site. By the time I am writing this article, several spammers from China and Russia have already started attacking my sites with spam contact emails as shown below:

AntiSpam log mentions everything about the content being blocked or approved. It will tell you the Author name, email, IP address and also show the content. Clicking the details link will show you the spam content which was posted to my Contact form:


Clicking the IP address will disclose full identity of the spammer. You can choose to blacklist the spammer by email ID, IP address or even by country name.



The Blacklist option is my personal favorite and helps me block a bulk of spammers at once using the country option. Since my content is in English, people from China and Russia are surely not my intended audience so blocking these countries could surely save me bandwidth and decrease load on servers.
The "Trends" page shows you interesting info using graphical illustration about the total number of blocked and approved/legitimate comments

On the "Spam and legitimate hits" drop down box you can see who were the Top20 spammers on your site for the last week.

Tons of more such features that you can discover for yourselves that not only helps you better moderate your blog but significantly improve its load time and SEO in long run.

How To Signup for CleanTalk Spam Protection?

CleanTalk offers a free trial for 7 days only after which it will start charging $8/year which isn't that much as compared to the quality service it provides for an entire year. I am also greatly impressed by their instant 24/7 free help and customer support. Since I have two sites, I am looking forward to upgrade my plan. Currently $8/year plan best suits our requirements.
Paying for a year of anti-spam service, you save a lot more and receive:

• Up to 99.998% protection from spam bots.
• Time and resources saving.
• More registrations/comments/visitors.
• Protection of the several websites at once in different CMS.
• Ease in installation and using.
• Traffic increase and loyalty to the users.
• 24/7 technical support.
• Clear statistics.
• No captcha (reCaptcha), puzzles, etc.
• Free mobile app to control anti-spam function on your website.

Additional features

• Daily and weekly detailed anti-spam reports: traffic VS spam.
• Apps for iPhone, Android to control anti-spam service, comments, signups, contacts, traffic and spam statistics for the last 7 days.
• AntiSpam apps for most popular CMS on cleantalk.org.

How Do You Protect Your Sites From Spam?

I am sure spam is a headache for us all. I have shared my experience of Akismet and CleanTalk. Please share your precious views on both of them and have you tried CleanTalk yet?

 

Can you image how much spam I used to receive through my Wordpress site's contact form alone? See the Gmail screenshot below and imagine how at piece would I be today? =)

CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin Review
Published	Sep 22, 2016
Summary	CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin is the best WordPress Plugin for spam protection against fake comments, signups, contact emails and much more.
Reviewer	Mohammad Mustafa Ahmedzai
Publisher	My Blogger Tricks
Ratings	5/5

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A Review of Wrike: Best Online Project Management Software

A review of Wrike as the best Online Project Management Software. Wrike helps us easily manage projects, save time and get more work done.

Mohammad Mustafa Ahmedzai

When we launched STCnetwork as a registered company for developing web apps and mobile applications, we never thought collaborating with team members, meeting deadlines, and sharing resources among project members would be that difficult. We relied on traditional tools like email correspondence, private bulletin boards, or sharing files using Google docs, but as we grew we needed a more reliable, faster approach to increase our work productivity. I started a search to find the best online project management software to help improve our performance and work efficiency. Fortunately, one of my colleagues from India recommended we try Wrike, an online project management tool used by companies like Google, Paypal, Amazon, and HTC to improve collaboration, save time, and get more done. Since then, managing our blog network, collaborating with team members, distributing our work load, and meeting deadlines has been headache-free.

 

Why Use an Online Project Management Software?

I�ll explain why we at STCNetwork collaborate, manage, and track all our projects, deadlines, schedules, and other workflow processes using Wrike.

Before I begin, allow me to introduce my team members:

1. Ahmed Nasir from Karachi
2. Ramesh Kumar Khatri from Karachi
3. Abdul Rehman from Afghanistan
4. Haris Ahmed from Dubai
5. Nida Zaidi from Karachi
6. Qasim Zaib from Islamabad
7. Yusra Adil from Dubai

You�ll notice that our team is spread across several different cities and time zones. As a result, we have to put in extra effort to collaborate effectively, make sure we distribute our tasks efficiently, and stay on the same page regarding responsibilities and deadlines. This is where Wrike�s online work management and team collaboration tools come into play: because it�s a shared, real-time workspace, we each have full visibility into responsibilities and tasks, as well as high-priority projects and deadlines. All our work is easy to mange, and we�re able to track work status, share files, discuss new ideas, and get great work done together all in this one tool.

One of the features we rely on is the real-time Activity Stream, which displays updates for the tasks you follow. Any update or comment that a team member makes to a task can be viewed in real time by the rest of the team, so we�re all up-to-date without having to send emails or hold status meeting calls. We don�t have to worry about emails getting stuck in spam filters or being buried in busy inboxes. We also use the @mention feature in task comments to send instant notifications to specific colleagues or entire teams, which keeps the momentum of our work high since we don�t have to wait for emails to be read and responded to. Communication and visibility is immediate, so we get work done faster.

Since Wrike is an online collaboration platform, you don't need to download and install a large software kit on your operating system, and our team can easily access Wrike online through their laptops or smartphones by logging in from anywhere in the world. No headache of software installation, updates, or incompatibilities, and all our work data is stored and backed up through a secure cloud server.

Wrike has helped STCnetwork so much that we recommend it to anyone who�s looking for an easy solution to their work management and collaboration headaches.

How We Collaborate Online With Wrike at STCnetwork

We normally start managing an online project by creating a folder. Each folder houses a series of different related tasks. Tasks are then assigned to members of our team, with details and instructions included in the task description and a specific due date set. Here�s a snapshot of our folder structure in Wrike:

These are some of the projects we need to complete within the next 2-3 months. Here�s how we use Wrike to distribute tasks among our team members:

As an example, the Android Development Kit project covers our mobile app development projects. Since Ramesh handles the mobile app development services, all the tasks that he needs to complete are contained within this folder:

When you click a task, you get full instructions of what the task is about, what is its duration, who is assigned to complete it, and the current status of the task. With Wrike�s live document editor, you and your teammates can each update the task description simultaneously, and you�ll see everyone else typing and making changes in real time. You can also attach files directly to their related tasks, and edit those documents without saving them to your computer and reuploading them. No need to send email attachments back and forth ever again!

Wrike's editor includes formatting options, from text formatting to including checkboxes and tables. Nida often uses it to format blog posts. =)

Here is a screenshot of the task where I informed Ramesh about a client's SRS and asked him for a fresh Android APK:

Attach files either from your computer or from cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and Microsoft OneDrive.

Team discussions are included at the bottom of the task in the comments section.

You can schedule time duration during which the task must be completed.

If Ramesh forgets to update me about the status of his assignment, then we can send him an email requesting a status update.

Another one of our favorite Wrike features is the interactive Timeline view of your projects. This Gantt chart maker gives you a helicopter view of your progress and an overview of all the tasks involved in your project. We also use the Workload view to get quick insights into who may be overloaded with work and who is available to take on a new task.

 

Start Using Wrike For Free!

Wrike currently offers three pricing plans:

Free Plan

For small teams up to 5 users who need basic task management. We started with this plan and later upgraded to Professional our team grew. I strongly recommend this free plan if your team is under 5 members and you are in startup phase.

Free features include:

• Task management
• File sharing
• Real-time Activity Stream
• Free iPhone and Android apps
• Integrations with Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, Microsoft Office 365, OneDrive and iCal
• 2Gb of storage space

Professional

For teams up to 15 users who need project planning and collaboration. This is the plan we are currently subscribed to. Investing $10 per user/month (less than our weekend McDonald's expenses!) on such a useful tool will more than pay off in increased productivity and efficiency.

Professional features include:

• Dynamic timeline (Gantt Chart)
• Subtasks
• Mass actions with tasks
• Shareable Dashboards
• Search filters
• Email Add-ins
• Additional Integrations 
  (MS Project, Excel, iCal, RSS)
• Storage space starting at 5Gb

Enterprise

For teams with 5 to thousands of users who need robust project management, custom reporting, and advanced security. Contact Wrike for a custom price quote.

Enterprise features include:

• Custom Fields
• Custom Workflows
• Workload view
• Time tracking
• Critical Path
• Real-Time Reports
• User groups
• Custom calendars
• Salesforce integration
• Single Sign On (SSO)
• Extended security controls
• Folder permissions
• Controlled admin permissions
• Network access policy
• Branded Workspace
• Storage space starting at 100Gb

How Do You Manage your Projects?

Using Wrike�s marketing project management software is so far the only tool we at STCnetwork use to manage and track our projects, deadlines, schedules, and other workflow processes. Before Wrike, I was found it extremely difficult to keep emailing and texting my authors and developers about new assignments, but for the past 2-3 years, managing work has been extremely easy thanks to new technology and tools like Wrike.

How do you manage your development projects? How do you distribute work among your team members, and how do you keep track of progress? Are you able to meet all your deadlines? Share your productivity and work management tips with us!

Wishing you all a happy project management experience, free from stress and hassle. Peace and blessings buddies! =)

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