diff --git a/agent/consul/state/catalog.go b/agent/consul/state/catalog.go
index 07975f53c..8e3b20d98 100644
--- a/agent/consul/state/catalog.go
+++ b/agent/consul/state/catalog.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package state
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/agent/structs"
@@ -618,9 +619,12 @@ func (s *Store) ensureServiceTxn(tx *memdb.Txn, idx uint64, node string, svc *st
 	// conversion doesn't populate any of the node-specific information.
 	// That's always populated when we read from the state store.
 	entry := svc.ToServiceNode(node)
+	hasSameTags := false
 	if existing != nil {
 		entry.CreateIndex = existing.(*structs.ServiceNode).CreateIndex
 		entry.ModifyIndex = idx
+		eSvc := existing.(*structs.ServiceNode)
+		hasSameTags = reflect.DeepEqual(eSvc.ServiceTags, svc.Tags)
 	} else {
 		entry.CreateIndex = idx
 		entry.ModifyIndex = idx
@@ -639,8 +643,11 @@ func (s *Store) ensureServiceTxn(tx *memdb.Txn, idx uint64, node string, svc *st
 	if err := tx.Insert("services", entry); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed inserting service: %s", err)
 	}
-	if err := tx.Insert("index", &IndexEntry{"services", idx}); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed updating index: %s", err)
+	if !hasSameTags {
+		// We need to update /catalog/services only tags are different
+		if err := tx.Insert("index", &IndexEntry{"services", idx}); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed updating index: %s", err)
+		}
 	}
 	if err := tx.Insert("index", &IndexEntry{serviceIndexName(svc.Service), idx}); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed updating index: %s", err)