Adding CAPTCHA to login and registration forms on your WordPress site is an important security measure especially since WordPress websites are prime targets for hackers brute force attacks, and spammers. What motivates most attackers is gaining unauthorized access to corrupt or spread malicious software on a WordPress website, especially in the admin area. In other cases, attackers will do this to crash websites hosted by a particular so that they can offer to fix it to collect a ransom.


CAPTCHA offers a way to prevent these attacks by blocking spam bots and securing your website from hackers. If you have not yet added CAPTCHA in your WordPress website, you risk it being attacked by malware and hackers. In this post, we are going to show you how you can add CAPTCHA in your website’s login area and registration form for protection. Read through for more insights.

Before we get into it lets first define CAPTCHA. This is a computer program that was created to differentiate between automated and human users. This is done by presenting tests to a user to attempt before accessing a website or registration form. The test is pretty simple to a human but quite hard and even impossible for automated bots to pass. When CAPTCHA was previously introduced, it prompted users to enter a text that was presented in a distorted format. The text included random letters, words, or numbers.

Later on, a safer technique reCAPTCHA is used, showing random words as a challenge. This method allowed users to help digitize books to gain access to a website or registration form. Back in 2009, Google acquired the system and has helped digitalize numerous books since then. Unfortunately, the new CAPTCHA technique was tedious and annoyed many visitors, disrupting user experience on many websites. The problem was solved when Google introduced a “No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA” technique. This method uses user interactions and AI to prevent spam bots from accessing websites. For a visitor to access a website, he or she will have to easily check a box for websites with normal traffic. Other traffic that indicated suspicious flow, a more complex CAPTCHA such as identifying objects would be used.

Benefits of using CAPTCHA for WordPress Login and Registration

Like I stated earlier in this post, WordPress is a big target for wannabe hackers, spammers, and brute force attacks, especially the login and form registration areas. The reason for these attacks is due to the popularity that WordPress enjoys all over the world in hosting websites. If you are looking for an easier way to protect your WordPress website, then a firewall plugin would be a great choice which blocks bad traffic and unauthorized visitors from entering your website. Alternatively, adding a second layer of password in the WordPress login and registration areas is also a great way to protect your website.

In this method, the problem comes in when you are forced to share the second password with other users. This is especially problematic for those running large multi-author blogs or membership sites. That is where CAPTCHA comes in. The technique provides WordPress Developer with an easier alternative to those solutions. Google’s AI technologies, it can detect genuine visitors and won't present a CAPTCHA challenge. It will only apply the challenge for those users that seem suspicious.

Custom vs. Default WordPress Login and Registration Form

If you are using the default WordPress login and registration form, you will only get basic features. Depending on the respective user roles, the login page allows users to access your website’s backend. On the default registration form, visitors are allowed to create accounts on your site. It is that simple, once they are in, they can also login to your website backend and perform specific tasks, depending on their user roles.

How to add reCAPTCHA to Default WordPress Login and Registration Form

Like any other plug-in, the thing you have to do is install and activate the Advanced noCAPTCHA & reCAPTCHA (v2 & V3) plugin. When this is done, from your admin panel, go to Settings » Advanced noCAPTCHA & Invisible CAPTCHA page where WordPress will take you to the plugin’s general settings page. To enable the CAPTCHA service on your website, choose a Google reCAPTCHA version and find reCAPTCHA API keys. The recommendable version is v2 since v3 is not that stable yet. The API keys are obtained by visiting the reCAPTCHA website. When there you will have to click on the ‘Admin Console’ button for the keys. The next page will prompt you to sign in to your account. You will see the ‘Register a new site’ page when you are logged in.

Enter your website name in the Label field and select a reCAPTCHA type. After that, under the Domains section, enter your domain name without ‘https://www.’ You can later add a new owner and see your email address in the Owners section. When you are done doing this, check the box next to ‘Accept the reCAPTCHA Terms of Service’. There is also another option called ‘Send alerts to owners’ which once checked will allow you to get email notifications when there is suspicious traffic in your site. Click on the Submit button once you are done and a success message will be displayed with the site and secret keys.

To set up Google reCAPTCHA, open your WordPress dashboard and go to Settings » Advanced noCAPTCHA & Invisible CAPTCHA page. 

The next thing is to enter Site Key and Secret Key to add reCAPTCHA to WordPress and you will see the ‘Enabled Forms’ option. You will check the box found next to the forms and this is the area where you will enable the Google reCAPTCHA. Scrolling down for customization options and once done customizing click on the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom. You have now successfully added reCAPTCHA in your WordPress login and registration form.

Conclusions

Now that you have the knowledge on you how to add CAPTCHA in your WordPress Support website, you can go ahead and try this technique out to secure your WordPress website from spambot and other forms of attacks. However, you can greatly enhance your site security by installing a WordPress security plugin on your WordPress website.

Naman Modi is a Professional Blogger, SEO Expert & Guest blogger at NamanModi.com, He is an Award-Winning Freelancer & Web Entrepreneur helping new entrepreneurs launch their first successful online business.

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