If you want to log in to a website or fill out contact information, your details may be verified using a CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA checks in various ways to ensure you are actually a human and not a computer-controlled robot with malicious intent. A CAPTCHA often takes the form of a small puzzle that you must solve to proceed. A human can do this, but a “bot” usually cannot: it requires manual input from a user.
Did you know that the term “captcha” is actually an acronym? In full, it stands for “completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart.”
Why exactly is it necessary to add a CAPTCHA to a website? You can read about that in the next paragraph. After that, we’ll provide various tips on the different forms CAPTCHAs can take.
Why is CAPTCHA necessary?
For various reasons, it is advisable to add CAPTCHAs to your website. Think in particular of contact forms and login screens. Here are a few good reasons why:
- Bots developed and controlled by people with malicious intent can generate a massive amount of spam in a short period of time. This can also occur in key areas of your website, such as forums, guestbooks, or opinion polls.
- A CAPTCHA reduces the likelihood of a password being cracked by a bot.
- Through certain forms on the internet, bots can spread spam emails if there is no CAPTCHA in place.
What types of CAPTCHAs?
There are various types of CAPTCHAs, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The following types are the most common:
- A CAPTCHA where you have to type one or a few words. In older versions, these words were fairly easy to read, whereas in more modern versions, readability has been intentionally made worse. In addition, letters and numbers are sometimes mixed together. Different fonts are used, and/or the characters are not in a straight line or are even rotated.
- The version where you have to perform a simple calculation and type in the answer.
- The version where you see a number of photos and must indicate which photos contain a specific object.
It’s also worth noting that captchas are available for people with visual impairments. In this case, as a user, you’ll hear an audio clip instead of seeing a puzzle on the screen.
How do you install a CAPTCHA?
One of the most commonly used CAPTCHAs is Google’s. This CAPTCHA is free to use and can be accessed with your Google account via https://google.com/recaptcha/. You can easily create the Google CAPTCHA by following these steps:
- After logging in via the link above, you can choose to add a domain name.
- Once you’ve done this, you’ll see these input fields where you can enter your domain name and, for example, the domain of your website’s test environment:
- Once you’ve entered the required information, you’ll receive two unique codes: the “site key” and the “secret key”:
- You can enter the site key and secret key within your website so that they can be activated and verified. Additionally, you will need to indicate in your forms that these are the captcha credentials.
Should you enable captcha or not?
As a website builder and/or website administrator, you should keep in mind that some modern captchas are quite difficult for many people to solve. For the sake of user-friendliness, you should offer the option to request a new CAPTCHA. A contact form likely has a better conversion rate without a CAPTCHA, but for the security of the user and your website, we recommend always installing one.
