Imagine you’ve developed a stunning Divi website, a digital masterpiece that shines brightly in the vast online landscape. Your website isn’t just a pretty face—it’s a gateway for potential clients or customers to connect with you through a sleek and inviting contact form. But here’s the flip side: while your contact form serves as a welcome mat for genuine inquiries, it also unwittingly attracts a swarm of unwanted visitors.

Picture your email inbox as a bustling marketplace, filled not with sought-after goods and services, but with unsolicited offers and dubious propositions. From sketchy sales pitches to promises of skyrocketing your website’s visibility through obscure SEO tactics, it seems like everyone wants a piece of your digital real estate.

And it’s not just your inbox that takes a hit. Your once-stable website starts to resemble a ship caught in a storm, lurching unpredictably as it struggles to stay afloat amidst the deluge of spam. Each unwanted submission feels like another wave crashing against your website’s defenses, threatening to overwhelm your hosting resources.

But fear not! In this post, we’ll roll up our sleeves and delve into strategies to reclaim control over your Divi Contact form, turning it from a spam magnet into a fortress of genuine connections.

Types of Contact form Spam Messages

Contact form spam messages can come in different flavors, each with its own sneaky agenda:

• Redirecting to Adult Sites: Some spam messages might lure you into clicking links that lead to adult websites. But beware! When you’re prompted to solve a CAPTCHA image, it could actually be a ploy to assist spammers by accessing other sites without your consent.
• Promoting Products: You might receive spam directing you to various product sites, peddling everything from counterfeit designer goods to seemingly relevant items like business cards or office furniture. Remember, reputable companies don’t resort to contact form spam, so approach these offers with caution.
• SEO/Web Design/Marketing Services: Be wary of spam emails from SEO companies claiming you’re missing out on traffic or your website needs fixing. Legitimate firms don’t resort to such tactics. If they were any good, they’d be visible on Google search results. Similarly, cheap web design offers from countless companies should raise red flags. You wouldn’t trust a cut-rate surgeon, so why trust a cut-rate web designer?
• Junk Messages: Sometimes, you’ll receive nonsensical messages in your contact form. These are attempts to elicit a response from you, confirming their email reached you. Why? So they can harvest your email address for spamming purposes. But it’s not just about spamming you; they might also exploit vulnerabilities in your form to hijack your website server and send spam to others, leaving you with the blame and a potentially blacklisted site.

    So, when it comes to contact form spam, it’s important to stay vigilant and not fall for their tricks.

With the Divi update 4.0.7, a handy feature was introduced: the ability to use Google reCAPTCHA v3 with the Divi contact form module. This feature offers a higher level of security and can effectively combat spam. Personally, I’ve experienced a complete elimination of spam messages from Divi contact forms across several websites               I manage since implementing this feature. So, let’s start by understanding what Google reCAPTCHA v3 is all about.

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What is Google reCAPTCHA v3?

Google reCAPTCHA v3 is a tool created by Google to help website owners protect their sites from spam and abuse. Unlike traditional CAPTCHAs that require users to solve puzzles or click on images, reCAPTCHA v3 works behind the scenes, invisibly assessing the user’s behavior to determine if they’re a human or a bot. It assigns a score to each user interaction, based on various factors like mouse movements, keyboard inputs, and browsing patterns. This score helps website owners identify and block suspicious activity, such as automated form submissions or malicious bot attacks. By integrating reCAPTCHA v3 into your Divi website, you can enhance security without inconveniencing genuine users with annoying puzzles or challenges.

Integrating Google reCAPTCHA v3 into Divi Contact Form

To set up Google reCAPTCHA v3 for your website, you’ll need to create a profile. Start by visiting the Google reCAPTCHA website. Once there, you’ll see a form where you can fill in details about your website. Fill in the required information accurately to create your reCAPTCHA v3 profile. It’s similar to the screenshot below. 

Integrating Google reCAPTCHA v3 into Divi Contact Form

Once you’ve filled in the details, hit the blue “Submit” button. Next, you’ll see your reCAPTCHA Site Key and Secret Key. Keep this page open in one browser window because you’ll need these keys later.

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Google reCAPTCHA v3 Site and Secret Key

Now, go ahead and activate the Divi Builder on the page where your contact form is located. Then, navigate to the settings of your contact form module. Look for the option labeled “Spam Protection” and select it. This will allow you to integrate the reCAPTCHA feature into your Divi contact form, helping to fend off spam. Then simply tick the option “Use A Spam Protection Service”.

Contact Form Settings

Next, click on the option to add a new reCAPTCHA v3 Account. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to copy and paste the site key and secret key you generated earlier in this tutorial into the designated fields. After you’ve entered the keys, hit the Submit button to save your changes.

Integrating Google reCAPTCHA v3 Site and Secret Key into Divi Contact Form

Next is the Minimum Score setting allows you to decide what counts as a good interaction with your website. It helps you adjust how sensitive the CAPTCHA is to detecting bots. The score, which comes from Google’s reCAPTCHA system, ranges from 0 to 1. If a user gets a score of 0, it’s probably a bot, while a score of 1 indicates a genuine interaction. You can tweak this score to better control how your site handles bots versus real users. You can adjust the score by moving a slider, clicking arrows, or entering a number manually.

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Starting with setting the Minimum Score to 0.7. If you notice lots of bot activity, you can increase the score until they’re filtered out. Conversely, if users still see the CAPTCHA challenge, you might need to lower the minimum score. You can also experiment by starting with a lower score and gradually increasing it until you find the right balance between blocking bots and allowing legitimate interactions.

Minimum Score

Final Thoughts:

In a world where online spam is as common as email itself, protecting your website from unwanted intruders is crucial. The Divi Contact Form is a powerful tool for connecting with potential clients or customers, but it can also become a gateway for spam and abuse if left unchecked. By implementing strategies like integrating Google reCAPTCHA v3, you can fortify your website’s defenses and reclaim control over your contact form.

Google reCAPTCHA v3 offers a seamless and effective way to combat spam without inconveniencing genuine users. With its invisible assessment of user behavior and customizable spam protection settings, reCAPTCHA v3 empowers website owners to strike the right balance between security and user experience.

By creating a reCAPTCHA v3 profile for your website and integrating it into your Divi Contact Form, you can significantly reduce the risk of spam infiltrating your inbox and wreaking havoc on your website’s stability. With the ability to set minimum scores and fine-tune spam protection settings, you have the power to adapt and optimize your defenses over time.

In conclusion, by staying vigilant and leveraging tools like Google reCAPTCHA v3, you can turn your Divi Contact Form from a vulnerability into a stronghold of genuine connections. So, roll up your sleeves, implement these strategies, and take back control of your website’s destiny. Your inbox—and your website—will thank you for it.

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