Evernote Search {Or Reason Number 1,657,003 Why You Should Use Evernote For Blogging}

It’s no secret that one of my favorite, and most used apps is Evernote. As a blogger, I’ve found many uses for it, including Using it as a Blogging Editorial Calendar, and using the SEARCH feature to come up with related blog posts to the one I’m currently writing.

Why I Use Evernote Search Before Publishing Every Blog Post

Evernote highlights the search term in every note that it finds, and, if you’re sending your blog posts to Evernote, you can take full advantage of this feature by using it to find older relevant posts to the one you’re writing. I use this every time I’m writing a blog posts (see how I linked to Using Evernote as a Blogging Editorial Calendar above). Of course, you can search for terms on your blog and behind the scenes of your blog software, but mine doesn’t highlight the search phrase IN the post – does yours? No? Well, Evernote does!

How To Get Your Blog Post Into Evernote

Your blog post has to be in Evernote to take advantage of this feature. To get it done automatically, I use an “If This Then That” recipe on IFTTT.com (a site that’s incredibly useful for everyone) – here’s my (shared) recipe.

To make a similar recipe, choose:-

  • If “RSS Feed” (input your blog’s “Feed” location here for the “Trigger Channel”)
  • Choose Evernote as the “Action Channel”
  • Select “Create a Note” and fill out the form.

Note that you can specify the name of the Notebook you want the email to go directly to, unlike with the first method – that’s why this is what I use now. Also, personally, I don’t use tags for this.


Putting This System To Work

A search will reveal both the notebook name (which is the same as the blog post title) and the text in the blog post, with the search phrase highlighted. So, with a glance, I can eliminate posts that aren’t relevant. For the posts that are similar, I can then incorporate them in the new post I’m writing – and update the old posts if necessary.

Do you search through older posts and link them up in new ones?

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// Comments //

  1. Lauren Doolin

    Mar 21

    This is great! I don’t think I’ve even heard of Evernote, but I’m definitely going to look into using it now! Thanks for some valuable information.

  2. Thanks for sharing that recipe. I’m going to try it. I always do link back to previous related posts as I have a good enough memory to remember past posts, but as the blog database gets bigger, this is a good recipe to keep on top of things.

    • Tanya Patrice

      Mar 21

      @Nishita exactly – it gets harder and harder to remember everything.

  3. Avanti Ciera

    Sep 29

    I love Evernote! It keeps all my ideas in one place and it intergrates with everything. I can save internet articles and posts from feedly with one click. I have to come up with better categories to organize everything though. That’s my next goal

  4. I think the big lesson here is that I just need to suck it up and use Evernote!!!! Seriously, these are great tips.

    Thanks for linking up to the Spread the Love Linky Party!

  5. Jennine G.

    Nov 24

    I’ve heard other great things about Evernote before, but not usually this well explained/detailed. Awesome! Thanks!

  6. Sue Jackson

    Nov 21

    Wow, you lost me back in the first paragraph! lol I have saved some of your previous posts in Evernote but haven;t had a chance to try it yet.

    My blog is hosted on Blogger which has a nice search feature built-in. I can search thru my posts behind the scenes on my Dashboard, and readers can search the posts using a search function on the blog itself. I use that often to incorporate and link back to previous posts.

    As always, I am in awe of your awesome organizational skills!

    Sue

  7. Shannelle C.

    Nov 21

    This sounds like a really good way to make use of that particular feature of Evernote! (Not that I really use it at all.)

    That would be really helpful if you were making a post looking back on what you’ve done, or you need to dig something up from years ago.

    Anyway, thank you for sharing such a great tip! I would definitely use it. Someday. Which is far, far, away.

  8. This is a cool idea. I have a search bar on my site that usually does a decent job pulling up old posts, but it’d be nice to have posts backed up somewhere else too. Do you know if there’s a way to add older posts (rather than just current and future posts) to Evernote?

  9. Angie

    Nov 19

    I am totally going to play around with this tonight!!

  10. Cecelia

    Nov 19

    I do usually link one or two older posts to my new posts, if only because I’ve read the author before or used the book in a Waiting on Wednesday post. I’ve never tried using Evernote for blogging, but I remember you saying you loved it! I tend to make notes long-hand and then type up a post at the last second. Time-consuming, but it works for me (mostly).

  11. Tina

    Nov 19

    You constantly surprise me with great ideas and blogging tips. I plan to sign up for Evernote based on an earlier post you made about it. Sounds like something that will keep me organized.

    And yes, I do link back to previous posts sometimes, especially if I am trying a differnet variation in a recipe or rehashing a book review.