When you need it
- Fake bookings are arriving from no real customer.
- You want a stronger check before your form goes on a busy page.
Before you start
- Try it without reCAPTCHA first. The built-in checks need no set-up and stop most robots.
- For reCAPTCHA you need a free Google account, and your website’s domain to hand.
Step by step
-
There is nothing to switch on for the basic protection: the booking form already carries a hidden field that robots fill in, and a timing check that catches forms submitted too fast.
-
For more, open Google’s reCAPTCHA admin console and make a new site. Choose Score based (v3) and add your domain. Google gives you a site key and a secret key.
-
In CaliDiary, open Settings → Sign-in and security and switch on Also check bookings with Google reCAPTCHA. Paste both keys and choose how strict the check should be.
[Screenshot to come] It will show: The spam protection card with “Also check bookings with Google reCAPTCHA” switched on, both key boxes shown as dots, the strictness choice, and the Save spam protection button.Google reCAPTCHA switched on, with the strictness choice. (Settings → Sign-in and security) -
Press Save spam protection, then make a test booking yourself to be sure real customers still get through.
-
Add Google reCAPTCHA to your privacy policy. WordPress’s Settings → Privacy already has suggested wording from CaliDiary you can paste in.
Tips
- Start on the least strict setting. Too strict and real customers on shared office connections can be turned away.
- reCAPTCHA v3 shows customers nothing: there are no pictures to click. It scores the visit quietly in the background.
- The secret key is stored encrypted on your own website and is never sent to us.