Understanding How Rewrite & Republish Works in Yoast Duplicate Post

If you use the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin to update your content, you might have questions about what happens to your original posts and their URLs. A common point of confusion is whether the old version of a post is kept or if a redirect is needed. This article explains the plugin's core 'Rewrite & Republish' function to clarify how it manages your content.

The Core Function: Rewrite & Republish

The primary feature for updating live content is the Rewrite & Republish function. This process is designed for making significant revisions to a published post or page without taking it offline during the editing process.

How It Works: A Two-Step Process

1. Create a Draft Copy: When you click 'Rewrite & Republish' on a live post, the plugin creates a complete duplicate of it. This duplicate is saved as a draft, which you can edit freely. The original post remains live and unchanged on your site.
2. Merge and Update: Once you finish editing the draft and click 'Republish', the plugin performs a merge. The content from your edited draft is used to update the original published post. The draft is then automatically deleted. Most importantly, this update happens on the original post's URL, preserving its permalink, any associated backlinks, and social shares.

Key Behaviors to Understand

• Original URL is Maintained: The process is specifically designed to update the existing post, not create a new one. Therefore, the URL always stays the same, which is crucial for SEO.
• No Automatic Redirects Needed: Since the URL does not change, you do not need to set up any redirects. The original link simply points to the newly updated content.
• Old Version is Not Archived: A critical limitation is that the 'Rewrite & Republish' function does not save a historical archive of the previous version. The old content is overwritten when the draft is merged into the original post. As noted in user threads, this can be a problem for users who need to keep a record of previous versions, such as for weekly planners or annual articles.
• One Draft at a Time: For any given post, you can only have one active 'Rewrite & Republish' draft in progress. The option to create another will not appear until the current draft is either published or deleted.

Common Workarounds and Solutions

Based on community discussions, here are solutions to frequent scenarios:

Need to Keep the Old Version?
If you must retain a copy of the post before it was changed, the standard 'Clone' or 'New Draft' feature should be used instead of 'Rewrite & Republish'. This will create a entirely new post with a different URL. You can then manually delete or unpublish the old post after the new one is live. Remember, this will change the URL.

Need to Schedule an Update?
The 'Rewrite & Republish' draft can be scheduled. You can set the republish date for a future time, and the update to the original post will occur automatically at that time. The original post remains live until the scheduled update.

Trouble Finding Your Draft?
If you save a 'Rewrite & Republish' draft and need to find it later, you must locate it in the standard Posts list (often filtered by 'Draft' status). The plugin does not currently add a direct link from the original post to its associated rewrite draft.

Understanding that 'Rewrite & Republish' is an updating tool, not an archiving tool, is key to using it effectively. For those who require version history, exploring dedicated revision management plugins may be necessary.