How to Remove Comment URLs in WordPress

Last updated on August 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Single toggle, two effects

• Removes the “Website” field from the comment form

• Strips the website URL from the comment author meta (the link next to the commenter name)

• Reduces spam signals (spammers post comments to get backlinks)

• Simplifies the comment form for legitimate commenters

What Is the Remove Comment URLs feature?

WordPress comments have a “Website” URL field that commenters can fill in. It’s used for two things:

The comment form: A “Website” input field that commenters can fill in
The comment meta: The commenter’s name in the comments list is wrapped in a link to their website (unless the URL is empty)

Remove Comment URLs does both: removes the form field, and strips the URL link from the rendered comment meta. The raw comment data is unchanged; only the display and the form are affected.

Why You Need It

The Website field on the comment form is one of the top three spam signals in WordPress. Spammers post comments primarily to get a backlink from your site’s high-authority domain. Removing the field removes the motivation.

For legitimate commenters, the Website field is rarely used. Most people commenting on a blog post don’t have a personal site they want to link, and those who do can include the URL in the comment text itself. Removing the field simplifies the form and reduces friction.

For comment authors, the website link in the comment meta can also be a visual distraction. A list of comments shows: “John Smith, linked to johns-blog.com: Great post!”. Removing the link makes it: “John Smith: Great post!”, cleaner and more focused on the comment content.

How to Use Remove Comment URLs in Classic Monks

Step 1: Navigate to Settings

Click into the Classic Monks plugin settings in your WordPress dashboard.

Step 2: Go to the Content Subtab

Click on the Core menu, then click the Content subtab.

Step 3: Enable Remove Comment URLs

Scroll to the Comment System Overrides section and toggle on Remove Comment URLs.

Remove comment URLs toggle

Step 4: Save Changes

Click Save Changes.

Step 5: Test the Form

Open any post with comments enabled on the front-end. The comment form should not show a “Website” field. Existing comments should show the author’s name without a link to their website.

Leave comment form fields

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Default
Remove Comment URLs	Master toggle. Two effects.	Off

No nested options.

What Gets Removed

Element	Before	After
Comment form “Website” field	Shown	Hidden
Comment author name link to website	`<a href="url">John</a>`	Plain text “John”
Comment author URL in the comment HTML	Present	Stripped (kept in DB)
`get_comment_author_url()` PHP function calls	Returns the URL	Returns the URL (unchanged)
Comment author’s Gravatar	Shown	Shown (not affected)
Comment meta on the comment edit screen (admin)	Shows the URL	Shows the URL (admin retains visibility)
Comment form spam-protection (honeypot, Akismet)	Active	Active (not affected)

What Does NOT Get Removed

The raw URL in the database: comment_author_url is still stored
The admin comment edit screen: still shows the URL field
Email notifications to admins: still include the URL in the email body
The comment_author_url column in the database: not removed, just hidden from display

If you want to fully strip the URL from the database, use a custom plugin that hooks into pre_comment_approved or comment_save_pre to clear the URL field before saving.

Developer Notes

Remove Comment URLs hides the URL field from the comment form. No developer hooks are currently exposed.

Options used:

Option	Type	Default
`remove_comment_urls`	Boolean	`false`

Troubleshooting

The Website field is still showing in the comment form

Cause: The toggle is off, or a caching plugin is serving a cached form.
Fix: Verify the toggle is on. Clear page cache. View the page source to confirm the field is not in the rendered HTML.

The author's name is still a link in existing comments

Cause: The toggle only affects new comments and the form. Existing comments in the database still have the URL, and the rendered output is cached.
Fix: Clear all caching layers. The URL link in existing comments is rendered as plain text once the toggle is on and the cache is cleared. The raw URL in the database is preserved (use the get_comment_author_url filter to fully remove it if needed).

Spammers are still finding my comment form

Cause: Removing the Website field reduces one spam signal, but spammers target the form itself. Other signals (the comment form URL, the post ID, etc.) are still present.
Fix: Combine with Disable Link in Comment to strip URLs from comment text, plus a comment moderation plugin (Akismet, Antispam Bee) for actual filtering.

I want to keep the form field but strip the link from existing comments

Cause: The toggle does both at once.
Fix: Leave Remove Comment URLs off, and use a small custom plugin that filters the rendered comment author link to remove the href: add_filter( 'get_comment_author_link', function( $link ) { return preg_replace( '/href=["'][^"']+["']/', '', $link ); } );. This keeps the form field but removes the rendered link.