WordPress Code to Automatically Delete Comments that contain URLs

You can automatically delete comments with URLs as a preventive measure to mitigate potential risks associated with spam, malicious links, or inappropriate content on your blog. Here are a few reasons why a website owner might want to implement this:

• Spam Prevention: Many spam bots target websites with comment sections to post irrelevant or promotional comments containing URLs. Automatically deleting such comments helps maintain the integrity and quality of the comment section by removing spammy or low-quality content.
• Security Concerns: URLs in comments can sometimes lead to malicious websites or phishing scams, posing a security risk to website visitors. By removing comments with URLs, website owners can protect their users from potentially harmful links and maintain a safe browsing environment.
• Content Relevance: Comments containing URLs unrelated to the topic of discussion can detract from the overall user experience and the quality of the comment section. Automatically deleting such comments helps ensure that the debate remains focused and relevant to the website’s content.
• SEO Considerations: Comments with spammy or irrelevant URLs can negatively impact the website’s search engine optimization (SEO) by associating it with low-quality or unrelated content. By removing such comments, website owners can maintain a cleaner backlink profile and improve the overall SEO performance of their website.

Overall, automatically deleting comments with URLs can help WordPress website owners maintain a spam-free, secure, and user-friendly environment for their visitors while preserving the quality and relevance of the content and discussions on their website.

How to Automatically Delete Comments in WordPress

To automatically delete comments with URLs in WordPress, you can use a custom PHP function hooked to the `comment_post` action. This function will check if the comment contains a URL; if so, delete the comment immediately after it’s posted. Here’s how you can implement it:

<?php 

if( ! function_exists( 'timu_delete_comment_with_url' ) ) {
function timu_delete_comment_with_url( $comment_ID, $comment_approved ) {
    
    // Get the comment data
    $comment = get_comment( $comment_ID );
    
    if ( ! empty( $comment ) ) {
      
      $comment_content = strtolower( $comment->comment_content );
      if ( strpos( $comment_content, 'http://' ) !== false || 
           strpos( $comment_content, 'https://' ) !== false) {

          wp_delete_comment( $comment_ID, true ); 
      }
    }
}
}
add_action( 'comment_post', 'timu_delete_comment_with_url', 10, 2 );

Add this code to your theme’s `functions.php` file or a custom plugin. This function will trigger every time a comment is posted (`comment_post` action). It checks if the comment content contains “http://” or “https://” indicating the presence of a URL. If a URL is found, it deletes the comment using `wp_delete_comment()` function.

Remember to test this functionality thoroughly on a staging site before implementing it on your live site to ensure it works as expected. Additionally, consider informing users about your comment policy to avoid any confusion.