Creating a CAPTCHA for the WP Contact Form 7 plugin involves adding an additional layer of security to prevent automated spam submissions. CAPTCHA stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart." It requires users to prove they are human by completing a challenge that is difficult for bots to solve.
- First, make sure you have the WP Contact Form 7 plugin installed and activated on your WordPress website.
- Click on "My reCAPTCHA" and then "Create a new site."
- Accept the terms of service and click on the "Submit" button.
- After submission, you'll receive a Site Key and a Secret Key. Keep these keys handy as you'll need them later.
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to "Contact" and then "Contact Forms."
- Choose the form you want to add CAPTCHA to or create a new form.
- Inside the form editor, click on the "reCAPTCHA" button located on the top right corner of the editor.
- In the reCAPTCHA settings, paste the Site Key and Secret Key you obtained from the Google reCAPTCHA website.
- Save the changes.
- In the form editor, place the cursor where you want to insert the CAPTCHA field.
- Click on the "reCAPTCHA" tag in the "Generate Tag" section on the right side.
- A new tag will be added to the form. Save the form.
- Preview your website and test the contact form to ensure that the CAPTCHA is working correctly.
- The reCAPTCHA challenge should appear, and users will need to check the "I'm not a robot" box to submit the form.
By following these steps, you'll have successfully implemented a CAPTCHA for the WP Contact Form 7 plugin, helping to reduce spam submissions and ensure that only human users can submit the form.