Akismet is the plug in you acquired when you installed WordPress. A plugin is code that adds functionality to your theme. The code comes packaged and ready to install, so plugins are easy to add. Some people say you shouldn’t have more than 12 plugins, because too many plugins will degrade the performance of your site. I am past my limit, but I will have to work on reducing my plugins later. For now, you definitely need this one.
If you didn’t acquire Akismet when you set up WordPress or if you have not activated Akismet, you should do so now. Remember, it will most likely cost you some money to get Akismet since you are going to want to use your site commercially—but you could wait until the moneymaking actually begins and for the moment just elect to get the personal version of Akismet, which is free, but which does request a donation.
Click the Plugins/Installed Plugins menu item and you will get a list of plugins that you have acquired.
You will have to check to see if the plugin has been activated. As you can see, Akismet is activated because the option shown now is to “Deactivate.” Click “Activate” if the option “Activate” is shown.
Then follow the instructions to get an API key and then to enter this key in the Akismet configuration page. I don’t show those instructions here as Akismet could change them so follow the instructions Akismet gives you.
If Akismet is not showing in your list of plugins, you can get it by clicking “Add New” and then searching for “Akismet.”
You can then click “Install” to install the plugin.
After doing so, Akismet should show up in your Installed Plugins list.
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