Many people consider writing blog posts a logical step after they gain prominence on social media. In contrast, some people are old-school and prefer to focus on blogging from the get-go. They believe they can get traffic naturally, either thanks to their talent, skill, or renown attained in hobbies and professions. Regardless of the niche they focus on, blog pages and posts are the backbones of their website. It is only when things go awry that users learn to appreciate the information they contained. Luckily, “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings,” as they say. You can learn how to recover a blog post, and we’ll gladly help.
1. Recover a blog post via the Trash feature
Trash, also named Trash Can and Recycle Bin, has become a standard feature among desktop, web, and mobile applications. Blogging platforms are no different, albeit not all of them support it yet. Here’s how the procedure looks on those that do:
- Blogs built via WordPress permit you to log in to the Admin Section, go to Posts > All Posts, and click on Trash in the list of options above. Click Restore below the post name or mark multiple posts you want to retrieve before clicking on Bulk Actions > Restore > Apply.
- Blogs hosted with Squarespace let you sign in, then go to the Home page. Click on Pages, then the page your blog post was on. Scroll to the bottom and click the trash can icon. Hover over the name of the post on the list, then click Restore twice.
- Wix-hosted blogs use an identical method as Squarespace. Access the Home tab on the Dashboard, then switch to the Trash tab on the left-hand side before clicking on Restore.
2. Find the cached version of a blog post
This method is only useful if your blog post remained public and was indexed by search engines. It doesn’t matter whether you deleted it accidentally, it got wiped alongside your entire blog, or was the target of a hacking attack. Time is the only factor that matters; Google will erase the data shortly after it discovers the post no longer exists. With that said, the procedure for seeing a blog post that Google cached is identical to method 4 in our guide for recovery of deleted Reddit posts. If it fails to appear, use this search term:
site:www.your-website.com “post title”3. Utilize Archive.org Wayback Machine
You might’ve seen this coming if you continued to read the Reddit guide above. As you can guess, the technique demonstrated in method 3 works without any adjustments. Well, except entering a URL of your blog post instead of Reddit’s. One thing to remember is that Wayback Machine might not have scanned your website if your daily/monthly traffic was low. The only reason they can afford to do this, like Google, is micromanaging resources. Therefore, they delegate a large portion to popular websites.
4. Check your blog’s RSS feed
The majority of blogging platforms, if not all, support the RSS (RDF Site Summary) feed by default. It contains a record of past updates and notifications about your website, and, if you’re lucky, your published post, too. There’s a myriad of ways to gain access, from a plugin for blogging platforms to browser-based readers and desktop and mobile applications. Simply search for “RSS reader”, choose your preferred method, and enter one of your website’s RSS feeds suitable for it. Also, consider asking your blog visitors for help — their RSS feeds might still contain the original version.
5. Restoring blog posts from a database backup
Regardless of the blogging platform you use, they use a database to store information, posts included. Whether backups are created automatically or if you can even access that database is another thing entirely. The answer is usually yes in the case of typical web hosting providers. Platforms like Squarespace, Wix, Blogger, or Blogspot have their set of rules which typically require you to reach out to Customer Support. Since that’s unreliable, we’ll demonstrate the procedure with cPanel, a commonly used web-based Control Panel application.
Manually extracting a post from the MySQL database
The steps will likely slightly differ in your case. Your web hosting provider might use another web application for backups, which may also support automatic backups. The one below focuses on rescuing posts from a manual database backup you made in the past. Here’s what to do:
- Sign in to the cPanel on your web hosting’s website.
- Find the Files section first.
- Click on Backup Wizard.
- Click on the Restore button on step 1 named “Backup or Restore”.
- For step 2, in the “Select Restore Type” tab, select MySQL Databases.
- Now you’ll see a “Restore a MySQL Database Backup” section. Click the Choose File button.
- Select your database backup.
Note. Allowed file extensions are usually .sql, .sql.gz, .tgz, and .tar.gz. - Click on Upload and wait.
- After the upload finishes, refresh your website homepage and look for the post.
Important
This is a risky procedure that can affect the functionality of your website. It will also delete any changes (posts and pages included) that happened after you created the backup. Thus, only follow these instructions when:
- The backup was recent, and the difference between the backup and the present state is slight.
- You created a backup before going through the steps. That way, you can copy the post before going back. Moreover, you have a failsafe in case things turns sour.
6. Recover a blog post from a website backup
Although we suggest using any method above first, you sometimes have no other choice but to take radical steps to fix a minor issue such as a missing blog post. If you’ve reached that point, it’s worth looking into these ways to recover a blog post using a website backup:
- Manual backups. Did you create and download any backups of your entire website? It doesn’t matter which tools you used and who provided them. If you nodded your head, follow the steps above. However, under step 5, choose “Backup” or “Website Backup”.
- Automatic backups. Most web hosting services occasionally create backups, despite having no obligations to do so. While you should never rely on them, they come in handy as a last resort. Look through the options within the Admin Section for a way to go back to a previous state. Otherwise, contact their Customer Support.
