Bots sending random messages through my contact form

[misterqar]

Hi! I'm noticing a large number of bots sending me messages through the contact form on my website. The strange thing is that they aren't promoting anything nor sending links, they just send random messages like "Nice blog!", "Wow, great content!" or "What theme did you use?". I know the messages aren't real because my website is not even in English. Also, they seem to focus on one subdomain of my website at a time.

Can someone explain me what's the purpose of this? I wonder if it's a competitor using some kind of tactic to affect my SEO. How can I stop it? Would Clouflare work?

CLARIFICATION: They aren't comments on my blog. They're messages directed to me via email, through the contact form.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Hi! I'm noticing a large number of bots sending me messages through the contact form on my website. The strange thing is that they aren't promoting anything nor sending links, they just send random messages like "Nice blog!", "Wow, great content!" or "What theme did you use?". I know the messages aren't real because my website is not even in English. Also, they seem to focus on one subdomain of my website at a time.

Can someone explain me what's the purpose of this? I wonder if it's a competitor using some kind of tactic to affect my SEO. How can I stop it? Would Clouflare work?

They are checking to see if you are autoapprove.

Just put a simple captcha in there and see if that slows it some.

 

[Waifu_tatyana]

They are trying to get their first comment approved on your blog to escape moderation on their next comments where they will start their link spam.
This feature is enabled by default on WordPress.
Open your discussion settings in WordPress and uncheck the option where it says: "Comment author must have a previously approved comment"

 

[misterqar]

They are trying to get their first comment approved on your blog to escape moderation

They aren't comments. They're messages through the contact form.

 

[carrotts]

I've had the same problem but I don't know the reason why they do it. I was just using my theme's default email form. Switching to a mailchimp form seems to have stopped them.

 

[Gogol]

Add recaptcha v3. It does not bother the user with a captcha form. It just tells you the score based on his browser and more. Don't add it as a comment if the score is below 0.6 or something like that. Just tell the user the comment will get added once approved.

Edit: I see you are emailing. But the same still applies. Check the score before sending email.

Some may still use a captcha solving service, but the numbers will be a lot less.