05 Dec
Last Updated on
Akismet api key activation is a process to enable spam protection on your WordPress blog. You should check Akismet plugin in your plugins checklist and install it. Like me nobody likes spam and with the internet huge growth, every internet user gets spam emails or comments daily. For a WordPress blogger, spam comments on the blog is a nightmare.
If there is no protection policy, it is really hard to differentiate between the original and spam comments. Literally that is a fact, as I was once managing a blog and reading comments that were looking 100% genuine but after in-depth analysis and with my senior’s help, we found those comments to be spam.
Well if there is a problem, there is a plugin. I mean there is a solution packed in a WordPress plugin. This is the beauty of wordpress and that’s why I love it. Akismet is an anti-spam free wordpress plugin that you can install easily to prevent spam but it’s activation is a bit tricky.
Let’s check it out!
1. What is Akismet?
Akismet is offered by wordpress.com and it’s a free and one of the finest spam filtering service for WordPress users. You must have seen many famous blogs and in their comments sections, it is mentioned that they are using Akismet for spam protection.
Therefore, if you’ve a WP blog, you must use it because it will keep your blog healthy and eventually, the spam score will remain zero. As I already mentioned, hundreds of spam comments on your blog will eat up your blog’s bandwidth and make it slow. The most amazing part is, Akismet blocks them before they start harming blog your blog.
2. How to Install the Free Plugin?
Akismet is pre-installed with wordpress installation but it is not activated by default. But if you don’t find it in plugins, you can install it in just 2 steps.
- Go to your WordPress dashboard, scroll down to plugins, click Add New.
- You’ll see Akismet on top of the recommended wordpress plugins, if you don’t find it, search it in the keyword box. Click Install Now to install Akismet.
- Click Activate to activate the Akismet anti-spam plugin
3. How to activate Akismet API Key in WordPress?
That’s the tricky part to activate the plugin. Once you click on the Activate button, you’ll see the following screen on your wordpress dashboard:
The blue button asks us to setup an Akismet account. Click on this button and it will re-direct us to Akismet official website. WordPress.com manages Akismet plugin, if you already have an account on wordpress.com, you can sign in using those credentials.
For a new account, click on sign up and put your email address, username and password.
Now choose the Personal plan and click the Get Personal button.
In the next step, it asks us for payment details and some amount as the plan price, you see that right?
No worries here, just hold the payment slider and bring it to $0.00
Furthermore, put your full name and blog URL to continue with free subscription. Check the boxes to confirm it’s for non-commercial use at the moment. But I would recommend to upgrade it when your blog starts generating revenue.
Congratulations, your key has been generated and ready for use.
Copy the Akismet api key, go to the wordpress dashboard from where we started and put the key.
Put the key and then click on the Connect with API key button.
Excellent! Akismet is now protecting your site from spam. Since it is the beginning of your blog, so there might be no comments or spam, so let’s leave the settings un-changed.
4. Is Akismet Free?
For personal use, it’s free to use. However, for professional blogs, it’s available at $5/month and for large enterprises with unlimited websites, you need to purchase the Akismet Enterprise plan that costs you $50/month.
5. Akismet API Key [Infographic]
6. Final Thoughts
As your blog grows, it means it will get a lot of traffic and people will ask legit questions about the tools or stats of your blog. But a lot of spam comments will come your way on your blog. You need to throw away those spam comments to keep the site clean. Additionally high spam or malicious activities can badly affect your site reputation and google rankings, therefore Akismet api key is mandatory to protect our site from spam comments. It’ll protect your blog posts from spam on auto-pilot. I’ve activated it on my site and I hope you have done that too.
8 Comments
Sonia
This is exactly what I needed! I deactivated Akismet because I had no idea how to do the steps. Well, thanks to you now I know! Many many thanks and I’m just so coming back to it tomorrow. Good luck and keep it up. 🙂
Faisal Rehman
Akismet is a must for blogs as you’ll be spam free.
Mohammad Afzal
Thanks, sir. Very helpful post.
Mohammad Afzal
Sir, I reached to blog through Facebook and am very happy to see your informative posts. The best thing is that your nice posts are easy to understand. The loading screen of your site is magnetic. Can you please let me how it is done? Thanks
Faisal Rehman
Thank you Afzal, it’s actually built in WordPress theme that I’ve installed. You can check out this theme here: https://saasland2.droitthemes.com
Anoop K A
Very informative article! keep sharing.
Rayo
I use Askimet, it’s a really fine and simple plugin.
Faisal Rehman
Glad to know that 🙂