diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index c8504559be..d95c838331 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ jobs:
           mkdir -p ~/.ssh
           echo "${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}" > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
           chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
-          echo -e "Host *\n\tStrictHostKeyChecking no\n" > ~/.ssh/config  
+          echo -e "Host *\n\tStrictHostKeyChecking no\n" > ~/.ssh/config
 
-          touch ./build/html/.nojekyll   
+          touch ./build/html/.nojekyll
 
           # get the short commit tag
           sha=$(git rev-parse --short ${{ github.sha }})
diff --git a/scripts/ci_deploy_website.sh b/scripts/ci_deploy_website.sh
index f8be4b5b60..31201b771d 100755
--- a/scripts/ci_deploy_website.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci_deploy_website.sh
@@ -4,27 +4,38 @@ builddir=$1
 destdir=$2
 sha=$3
 
+# check the PDF was created and upload to https://mapserver.org/pdf/MapServer.pdf
 if [ -f $builddir/latex/en/MapServer.pdf ]; then
   set -x
   scp $builddir/latex/en/MapServer.pdf mapserver@mapserver.org:/var/www/mapserver.org/pdf/
   set +x
 fi
 
-
 if [ ! -d $destdir/mapserver.github.io ]; then
   git clone git@github.com:mapserver/mapserver.github.io.git $destdir/mapserver.github.io
 fi
 
+# remove all previous files in the repo if [build_translations]
+# is in the commit message
+git log -n1 | grep -q "\\[build_translations\\]"
+
+if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
+    rm -rf "$destdir/mapserver.github.io"/*
+fi
+
+# copy in the newly created files
 cd $builddir/html
 cp -rf * $destdir/mapserver.github.io
 
 cd $destdir/mapserver.github.io
+
+# restore README.md and .nojekyll from the last commit
+git checkout HEAD -- README.md
+git checkout HEAD -- .nojekyll
+
 git config user.email "mapserverbot@mapserver.bot"
 git config user.name "MapServer deploybot"
 
-#rm -rf _sources */_sources
-#rm -rf .doctrees */.doctrees */.buildinfo
-
 git add -A
 git commit -m "update with results of commit https://github.com/mapserver/MapServer-documentation/commit/$sha"
 git push origin master