While comments can be a great way to engage with your audience, not all WordPress websites benefit from having them enabled. Whether you’re managing a blog that doesn’t require comments, running a business site, or simply want to reduce spam, disabling comments on your WordPress site can be a useful feature.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to disable comments site-wide, on individual posts, or on specific pages.
Why Disable Comments on WordPress?
Before diving into the steps, it’s important to understand why you might want to disable comments on your site. One of the main reasons why site owners do this is to reduce spam comments that could otherwise clutter their site or affect their SEO rating. If you want to do the same, disabling comments is the right move. Other reasons why people choose to disable comments on WordPress are to avoid negative or irrelevant discussions, support content consumption only, and streamline the design.
How to Disable Comments on New Posts
If you’re starting fresh or want to prevent comments from being added to future posts, you can easily disable them in the WordPress settings.
- Step 1: Go to the WordPress Dashboard. Log in to your WordPress dashboard. This is where you’ll manage all the settings for your website.
- Step 2: Navigate to the “Discussion” Settings. From the left-hand menu, go to Settings > Discussion.
- Step 3: Disable Comments on New Posts. Under the Default post settings section, uncheck the option that says “Allow people to submit comments on new posts”. This setting will prevent comments from being allowed on any future posts you publish. However, this will not disable comments on existing posts.
- Step 4: Save Changes. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes to apply the new settings.
How to Disable Comments on Existing Posts and Pages
If you want to disable comments on specific existing posts or pages, you can manually change the settings for each one.
- Step 1: Go to the Posts or Pages Section. From your WordPress dashboard, go to either the Posts or Pages section, depending on where you want to disable comments.
- Step 2: Edit the Post or Page. Hover over the title of the post or page where you want to disable comments and click Edit.
- Step 3: Disable Comments. In the post editor screen, scroll down to the Discussion section. If you don’t see this section, you may need to enable it by clicking on Screen Options at the top-right of the screen and checking the box next to Discussion. Once the Discussion section is visible, uncheck the box that says “Allow comments”.
- Step 4: Update the Post or Page. Click Update to save your changes and disable comments on the post or page.
How to Disable Comments on All Existing Posts
If you want to disable comments across all existing posts at once, you can do this quickly using WordPress’s bulk editing feature.
How to Disable Comments on Pages
By default, WordPress often enables comments on pages, but many website owners prefer to keep comments disabled on these static, informational pages.
- Step 1: Go to the Pages Section. From your dashboard, navigate to Pages > All Pages.
- Step 2: Bulk Edit Pages. Just like with posts, check the box next to Title to select all pages, or select individual pages where you want to disable comments. Then, choose Edit from the Bulk Actions dropdown and click Apply.
- Step 3: Disable Comments. In the bulk edit panel, find the Comments dropdown and select Do not allow, then click Update.
How to Disable Comments Using a Plugin
If you want a faster, site-wide solution for disabling comments, using a plugin can be an efficient way to manage this. One of the most popular options is the Disable Comments plugin, which allows you to turn off comments for posts, pages, media, and custom post types with ease.
- Step 1: Install the Disable Comments Plugin. From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New, and search for Disable Comments. Click Install Now, then Activate once the plugin is installed.
- Step 2: Configure the Plugin. After activation, go to Settings > Disable Comments. Here, you can choose to disable comments for:
- Everywhere: Disable comments site-wide, including posts, pages, and media files.
- Specific Types: Disable comments only on specific post types, such as pages or posts.
- Step 3: Save Changes. Once you’ve selected your preferred settings, click Save Changes. The plugin will immediately disable comments according to your selection.
Conclusion
Disabling comments on your WordPress site is a simple process that can be done manually through the dashboard or by using a plugin. Whether you’re looking to remove comments on a few posts or across your entire site, WordPress offers flexible options to suit your needs. By following these steps, you can keep your site clean, professional, and free of unwanted discussions or spam. For additional help with this process, or to learn more about having your site managed by our professional team, contact Magna Technology today.
