How to Use .htaccess to Fight Spam in WordPress

Are you looking for a way to use .htaccess snippets to prevent unwanted access to the comment submission file? While there’s probably a plugin for this, we have created a quick code snippet that allows you to use .htaccess to fight spam in WordPress.

Instructions:

All you have to do is add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} POST
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .wp-comments-post.php*
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !.*yourdomainname.com* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^$
RewriteRule (.*) ^http://%{REMOTE_ADDR}/$ [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

You need to replace ‘yourdomainname.com’ with your domain name in the above code.

Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly add code snippets in WordPress, so you don’t accidentally break your site.

If you liked this code snippet, please consider checking out our other articles on the site like: 9 best WordPress help desk plugins for customer support and how to create a WordPress donation form.