How to Disable Comments in WordPress: Step-by-Step Process to Follow

Did you know that spam comments make up a significant portion of all the comments on the internet? Not all websites need a comment section. If you run a business website, portfolio, documentation site, or an online e-commerce store, it’s often best to disable comments in WordPress to maintain a professional look, prevent unnecessary clutter, and improve website performance. 

By adjusting the default post settings in WordPress, you can easily remove comments from all posts or only selected posts, ensuring your site remains focused on its core purpose.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to disable WordPress comments across your entire WordPress site or on specific post types. Ready to take control of your comment section? Let’s dive into the step-by-step process in the next section!

Why Disable Comments in WordPress?

While comments can encourage discussion, they aren’t always beneficial for every website. Unchecked comments can lead to spam, security risks, and unnecessary distractions that take focus away from your content.

Avoiding Spam and Irrelevant Comments

Spam comments can flood your comments page, making it difficult to access comments from genuine users. 

Automated bots often post irrelevant links, which can harm your site’s credibility. By disabling post comments, you prevent unwanted interactions and maintain a professional appearance.

Reducing Moderation Efforts

If you run a large WordPress site with multiple blogs, managing all the selected posts and filtering spam can be time-consuming. 

Adjusting the discussion section and disabling comments across posts or pages eliminates the need for constant moderation, freeing up your time for more important tasks.

Enhancing Website Performance and User Experience

Excessive comments, especially spammy ones with multiple comment links, can slow down your site. Removing comments can improve loading speeds, particularly for sites with heavy media files. 

By using a PHP file or code snippets, you can optimize performance while keeping your specific page or custom post types clutter-free.

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Methods to Disable Comments in WordPress

There are multiple ways to disable comments in WordPress, depending on whether you want to stop future comments, remove them from existing posts, or disable them entirely site-wide. Below are the step-by-step methods to achieve this.

Method 1: Disabling Comments for Future Posts

If you want to prevent comments on all new posts going forward, you can easily disable them through the WordPress settings.

• Navigate to the admin bar in your WordPress dashboard and go to Settings > Discussion.
• In the right panel, uncheck the option “Allow people to submit comments on new posts.”
• Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

This setting ensures that all future published posts and new articles won’t have a comment section.

Method 2: Disabling Comments on Existing Posts and Pages

If you already have posts or pages with comments enabled, you need to remove them manually.

• Go to the Posts or Pages section in your dashboard.
• Hover over the post or page where you want to disable comments and click Quick Edit.
• In the Quick Edit menu, find the Allow Comments checkbox and uncheck it.
• Click Update to save your changes.

For bulk edits:

• Select all the posts you want to modify.
• Choose Edit from the Bulk Actions dropdown and click Apply.
• In the bulk edit settings, find the Comments drop-down and set it to Do not allow.
• Click Update to apply changes to all selected posts.

Method 3: Completely Disabling Comments Site-Wide

If you want to remove the commenting feature entirely from your WordPress site, including posts, pages, and media files, follow these methods.

Using the Disable Comments Plugin:

• Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
• Search for Disable Comments Plugin and install the plugin.
• Activate the plugin and navigate to Settings > Disable Comments.
• Choose whether you want to disable comments on posts, pages, or across the entire WordPress site.
• Click Save Changes to apply the settings.

Modifying the functions.php File (For Advanced Users): 

If you prefer a manual method, you can disable comments by editing your functions.php file.

• Access your WordPress file manager via cPanel or an FTP client.
• Navigate to wp-content/themes/your-theme/ and locate the functions.php file.
• Open the file and add the following line at the end: return false;
• Save and upload the file.

This method disables the commenting feature across your entire WordPress site, ensuring no new comments can be posted.

By following these methods, you can effectively manage and remove unwanted comments from your WordPress site. 

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How to Remove Existing Comments.

If you’ve decided to disable comments on your WordPress website, you might also want to delete the existing ones. Here’s how you can do it efficiently:

Manually Deleting Comments

For small websites with limited user interaction, manually removing comments is a straightforward approach. To delete comments:

• Navigate to WordPress Dashboard > Comments.
• Select the unwanted comments and click Move to Trash.
• If needed, empty the trash to permanently remove them.

While this method works well for a few comments, it becomes time-consuming if you have thousands of comments, especially spammy ones.

Using a Plugin for Mass Comment Removal

For bulk removal, using a plugin like WP Bulk Delete can be a faster solution:

• Install and activate WP Bulk Delete from the plugin repository.
• Go to WP Bulk Delete > Delete Comments.
• Select the criteria for deletion (e.g., spam, pending, or all comments).
• Click Delete Comments to remove them in bulk.

This method saves time and ensures your site remains safe and clutter-free without affecting other content. If you mistakenly delete something important, you can restore comments if you have a recent backup.

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Disabling Comments on Media Attachments

By default, WordPress enables comments on media files like images and videos. This often leads to unnecessary discussions on media pages, creating issues with spam or unwanted engagement.

Why WordPress Auto-Enables Comments on Media?

Each media file uploaded to WordPress gets its own attachment page, similar to a post. Since comment settings apply to posts by default, media attachments may unintentionally allow user interaction. This can clutter your site with unmoderated discussions and even invite spam.

How to Disable Comments on Media Attachments?

You can prevent comments on media attachments using one of these methods:

1. Manually Disabling via Discussion Settings:

Go to Settings > Discussion in your WordPress dashboard.

Uncheck Allow people to submit comments on new posts (This affects future uploads but doesn’t disable existing media comments).

2. Using a Plugin:
If you’re not comfortable editing code, plugins like Disable Comments let you turn off comments globally, including for media attachments.

Best Practices After Disabling Comments

Once comments are disabled, it’s essential to check for any unintended side effects and ensure your site remains engaging.

Checking for Broken Comment-Related Elements

Many WordPress themes display comment sections by default. If you’ve removed comments, ensure your theme doesn’t show an empty or broken “Comments are closed” message. If needed, modify the theme files or use a custom CSS snippet to hide comment sections.

Redirecting Comment-Heavy Pages to Maintain SEO

If certain pages have built up valuable discussions that contribute to SEO, suddenly removing comments can impact search rankings. To handle this:

• Redirect comment-heavy posts to related content using 301 redirects.
• Copy valuable user-generated content (questions and answers) and integrate them into the main post.

Using Alternative Engagement Methods

Disabling comments doesn’t mean ending user interaction. You can still engage visitors through:

• Contact forms – Encourage users to ask questions directly.
• Forums – Create a space for discussions using plugins like bbPress.
• Social Media Sharing – Add share and answer copy link options to encourage external discussions.

By implementing these strategies, you maintain user engagement while keeping your site clean and optimized.

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Conclusion

Turning off comments in WordPress can help keep your site more organized, reduce spam, and improve performance. Whether you’re manually deleting comments, using a plugin for bulk removal, or disabling them on media attachments, it’s important to ensure your site remains user-friendly. After disabling comments, check for any broken elements, redirect valuable discussions to maintain SEO, and explore alternative ways to engage with your audience, such as contact forms, forums, or social media.

If you need assistance with managing your WordPress website, from comment removal to full-site optimization, our WPTasks team is here to help. Contact us, and let’s keep your site running smoothly!