How to Easily Add reCAPTCHA v3 to Your WordPress Form

If you are like me, you are going to poke your eyes out if you have to read through one more article that claims to have  “X” number of ways to reduce or block spam submissions in your WordPress forms.

Believe me; I’ve tried ALL the solutions.  I have added security plugins with anti-spam features to my site, anti-spam fields, and even reCaptcha to my WordPress forms. But, the WordPress form spam still persists!

That is why I want to tell you about the new and improved Google ReCaptcha v3 for WordPress. It never interrupts your users when submitting a form because it is invisible.  Users will no longer have to click through a puzzle, solve a math problem, or answer one of those annoying questions ever again just to submit a form on your WordPress website.

With our WordPress form builder, you can install ReCaptcha v3 to your WordPress form in three easy steps.  Let’s get started!

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reCAPTCHA v3:  How Does it Work?

Instead of making your user finish a puzzle or answer a math problem to submit a form, Google ReCaptcha v3 works behind the scenes by returning a score after every WordPress form submission. The scores are sent to the v3 Admin Console, where they can then be used to determine whether or not you need additional authentication for your site.

Step 1. Retrieve the Google reCaptcha v3 Key and Secret

You will need to head over to Google’s reCaptcha page and add your site URL.  You can do that by navigating here https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin/create

1. Register a new site
2. Add a Label.  Ideally, this should be the name of your site.
3. From the reCaptcha Type dropdown, choose ‘reCaptcha V3’
4. Add your Domain.  If your site is a development site, this will not work, so make sure the website is live to the public.
5. Access the ReCaptcha terms of service
6. Submit
7. Copy the Site Key and Secret Key to your clipboard. You will be pasting these credentials into Ninja Forms reCaptcha Settings later.

Step 2. Add the Key and Secret to Your Ninja Forms Settings

Navigate to Ninja Forms > Settings > Advanced Settings and look for the section titled reCaptcha Settings.  This is where you will paste in the key and secret you copied to your clipboard in step one. Add the ReCaptcha v3 Site Key and reCaptcha v3 Secret Key credentials to their corresponding fields. If you can’t find them, they are directly below the ReCaptcha Language field.

Step 3. Enable the v3 reCAPTCHA Form Action

View your WordPress form by navigating to Ninja Forms > Dashboard and selecting your form. Click on the Email and Actions tab in the form menu.  This is where you will add Google v3 reCaptcha action to your WordPress form. To add the action, click on the plus sign in the bottom right to bring up the menu of the actions.  Select the ReCaptcha v3 action to add it to your WordPress form and publish.

Advanced – Score Threshold

Under the Advanced drop-down within the reCAPTCHA v3 action is a score threshold.  By default, this is set to Google’s standard of 0.5.  To determine the score most appropriate for your form, reference the v3 Admin Console 

If it’s Invisible, How Do I Know It’s Working?

View your form on the front end and look for the Google Recaptcha v3 icon at the bottom-right of your page.  This icon signifies that reCAPTCHA v3 is set up and ready to go. 

If you aren’t seeing this icon, you will need to make sure the reCAPTCHA v3 action has been added and that your reCAPTCHA credentials match the v3 credentials you created in step one. 

Google has excellent resources to assist you, like their Google Recaptcha v3 Documentation and reCaptcha Troubleshooting guides. Otherwise, our customer support team would be happy to assist you if you are still unable to get up and running.

Adding Google ReCaptcha v3 Wasn’t Hard at All!

Now that you have learned what Google ReCaptcha v3 can do and how to add it to your WordPress form, give it a try on your own WordPress form!

For more information on how to make the most of reCaptcha v3 on WordPress, check out the following articles, How to Use ReCAPTCHA to Protect WordPress Forms from Spam, Brute Force Logins, and Carding Attacks, and How to Use reCaptcha to Secure Login Forms.

About Ninja Forms WordPress Form Builder

Did you know the Ninja Forms core plugin is free?  Not just that.  Even the free version comes packed with awesome free features such as calculations, unlimited submissions, submission management, spam protection, and much more.  Check our features that come included in our Ninja Forms core plugin and enjoy them completely for free!

If free features are not enough for you, we offer over 40 integrations with your favorite software.  Unlike our competitors, all our add-ons can be purchased individually for 1, 5, or 20 sites.  The more add-ons you need, the better you are with our membership plans that give you additional discounts on even more add-ons!

Want to learn more about Ninja Forms?  Check our frequently asked questions to get your answers right away!