diff --git a/include/linux/compaction.h b/include/linux/compaction.h
index 9569e7c786d3..4b898cdbdf05 100644
--- a/include/linux/compaction.h
+++ b/include/linux/compaction.h
@@ -129,11 +129,8 @@ static inline bool compaction_failed(enum compact_result result)
 	return false;
 }
 
-/*
- * Compaction  has backed off for some reason. It might be throttling or
- * lock contention. Retrying is still worthwhile.
- */
-static inline bool compaction_withdrawn(enum compact_result result)
+/* Compaction needs reclaim to be performed first, so it can continue. */
+static inline bool compaction_needs_reclaim(enum compact_result result)
 {
 	/*
 	 * Compaction backed off due to watermark checks for order-0
@@ -142,6 +139,16 @@ static inline bool compaction_withdrawn(enum compact_result result)
 	if (result == COMPACT_SKIPPED)
 		return true;
 
+	return false;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Compaction has backed off for some reason after doing some work or none
+ * at all. It might be throttling or lock contention. Retrying might be still
+ * worthwhile, but with a higher priority if allowed.
+ */
+static inline bool compaction_withdrawn(enum compact_result result)
+{
 	/*
 	 * If compaction is deferred for high-order allocations, it is
 	 * because sync compaction recently failed. If this is the case
@@ -207,6 +214,11 @@ static inline bool compaction_failed(enum compact_result result)
 	return false;
 }
 
+static inline bool compaction_needs_reclaim(enum compact_result result)
+{
+	return false;
+}
+
 static inline bool compaction_withdrawn(enum compact_result result)
 {
 	return true;
diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index df566c0f6729..591e026534c2 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -3955,16 +3955,24 @@ should_compact_retry(struct alloc_context *ac, int order, int alloc_flags,
 		goto check_priority;
 
 	/*
-	 * make sure the compaction wasn't deferred or didn't bail out early
-	 * due to locks contention before we declare that we should give up.
-	 * But do not retry if the given zonelist is not suitable for
-	 * compaction.
+	 * compaction was skipped because there are not enough order-0 pages
+	 * to work with, so we retry only if it looks like reclaim can help.
 	 */
-	if (compaction_withdrawn(compact_result)) {
+	if (compaction_needs_reclaim(compact_result)) {
 		ret = compaction_zonelist_suitable(ac, order, alloc_flags);
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * make sure the compaction wasn't deferred or didn't bail out early
+	 * due to locks contention before we declare that we should give up.
+	 * But the next retry should use a higher priority if allowed, so
+	 * we don't just keep bailing out endlessly.
+	 */
+	if (compaction_withdrawn(compact_result)) {
+		goto check_priority;
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * !costly requests are much more important than __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL
 	 * costly ones because they are de facto nofail and invoke OOM