diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_website.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_website.yml
index df61fe023a..771ff4f7ab 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish_website.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish_website.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      with:
+        ref: 'docusaurus-versions' # release branch
+        fetch-depth: 0
+    - name: Sync release branch with main
+      run: |
+        git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+        git config --global user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+        git merge origin/main
+        # To avoid a large number of commits we don't push this sync commit to github until a new release.
     - name: Set up Python
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
@@ -39,9 +48,6 @@ jobs:
     - if: ${{ inputs.new_version }}
       name: Create new docusaurus version
       run: |
-        git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-        git config --global user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-
         python3 scripts/convert_ipynb_to_mdx.py --clean
         cd website
         yarn
@@ -49,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
 
         git add --all
         git commit -m "Create version ${{ inputs.new_version }} of site in Docusaurus"
-        git push --force origin HEAD:main
+        git push --force origin HEAD:docusaurus-versions
     - name: Build website
       run: |
         bash scripts/build_docs.sh -b