The Contact Form Advanced widget has free SPAM protection built in, using Google reCAPTCHA: visitors tick "I'm not a robot" before the form sends. You need a free Google account to get two keys, which you paste into the form's settings. It takes about 10 minutes.
Which form do you have?
| Widget | SPAM protection |
|---|---|
| Contact Form Advanced | reCAPTCHA, which you turn on in Widget Settings |
| Contact Form (the plain one) | No reCAPTCHA. Replace it with Contact Form Advanced to use it |
Turn on SPAM protection
- Get your two keys from Google. Follow How to add SPAM protection with reCAPTCHA to Contact Forms. Choose reCAPTCHA v2 and the "I'm not a robot" Checkbox, and add your website's domain, such as yourdomain.com.
- In EverWeb, select your form and open Inspector > Widget Settings.
- Scroll to SPAM Protection and tick Use reCaptcha SPAM Protection.
- Paste your Site Key into reCaptcha Site Key and your Secret Key into reCaptcha Secret Key. Don't swap them, and don't add spaces.
- Publish your website, then open the published page in a private browser window and send yourself a test.
The reCAPTCHA box only appears on your published website. In Preview, EverWeb shows a note in its place, and forms don't send from Preview.
If it doesn't work
- "The captcha is not valid." or the box doesn't load: check that the domain in Google's reCAPTCHA settings matches your website's address, and that each key is in the right box.
- You publish the same website to a second address, such as a test copy: add that domain to the same reCAPTCHA keys too.
- "You must complete the captcha.": the visitor sent the form without ticking the box. This is working as it should.
- Your form doesn't arrive at all: see My contact form isn't sending me emails.
Good to know
- reCAPTCHA stops automated programs that fill in forms. It can't stop a person typing spam by hand, or spam sent straight to your email address. For spam in your inbox, see I'm receiving a lot of spam emails to my account. How can I stop this?
- If you have the Contact Forms Enhanced add-on, its Send Confirmation Email option needs SPAM protection turned on. See What is the Contact Forms Enhanced Add-on?