diff --git a/src/cluster.c b/src/cluster.c
index 0975db53a..cdbc565ec 100644
--- a/src/cluster.c
+++ b/src/cluster.c
@@ -964,6 +964,7 @@ clusterNode *createClusterNode(char *nodename, int flags) {
     node->numslaves = 0;
     node->slaves = NULL;
     node->slaveof = NULL;
+    node->last_in_ping_gossip = 0;
     node->ping_sent = node->pong_received = 0;
     node->data_received = 0;
     node->fail_time = 0;
@@ -2847,18 +2848,6 @@ void clusterBuildMessageHdr(clusterMsg *hdr, int type) {
      * totlen field is up to the caller. */
 }
 
-/* Return non zero if the node is already present in the gossip section of the
- * message pointed by 'hdr' and having 'count' gossip entries. Otherwise
- * zero is returned. Helper for clusterSendPing(). */
-int clusterNodeIsInGossipSection(clusterMsg *hdr, int count, clusterNode *n) {
-    int j;
-    for (j = 0; j < count; j++) {
-        if (memcmp(hdr->data.ping.gossip[j].nodename,n->name,
-                CLUSTER_NAMELEN) == 0) break;
-    }
-    return j != count;
-}
-
 /* Set the i-th entry of the gossip section in the message pointed by 'hdr'
  * to the info of the specified node 'n'. */
 void clusterSetGossipEntry(clusterMsg *hdr, int i, clusterNode *n) {
@@ -2878,6 +2867,8 @@ void clusterSetGossipEntry(clusterMsg *hdr, int i, clusterNode *n) {
 /* Send a PING or PONG packet to the specified node, making sure to add enough
  * gossip information. */
 void clusterSendPing(clusterLink *link, int type) {
+    static unsigned long long cluster_pings_sent = 0;
+    cluster_pings_sent++;
     unsigned char *buf;
     clusterMsg *hdr;
     int gossipcount = 0; /* Number of gossip sections added so far. */
@@ -2967,10 +2958,11 @@ void clusterSendPing(clusterLink *link, int type) {
         }
 
         /* Do not add a node we already have. */
-        if (clusterNodeIsInGossipSection(hdr,gossipcount,this)) continue;
+        if (this->last_in_ping_gossip == cluster_pings_sent) continue;
 
         /* Add it */
         clusterSetGossipEntry(hdr,gossipcount,this);
+        this->last_in_ping_gossip = cluster_pings_sent;
         freshnodes--;
         gossipcount++;
     }
@@ -2987,7 +2979,6 @@ void clusterSendPing(clusterLink *link, int type) {
             if (node->flags & CLUSTER_NODE_NOADDR) continue;
             if (!(node->flags & CLUSTER_NODE_PFAIL)) continue;
             clusterSetGossipEntry(hdr,gossipcount,node);
-            freshnodes--;
             gossipcount++;
             /* We take the count of the slots we allocated, since the
              * PFAIL stats may not match perfectly with the current number
diff --git a/src/cluster.h b/src/cluster.h
index 1349a7a92..c50cfff80 100644
--- a/src/cluster.h
+++ b/src/cluster.h
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ typedef struct clusterNode {
                                     may be NULL even if the node is a slave
                                     if we don't have the master node in our
                                     tables. */
+    unsigned long long last_in_ping_gossip; /* The number of the last carried in the ping gossip section */
     mstime_t ping_sent;      /* Unix time we sent latest ping */
     mstime_t pong_received;  /* Unix time we received the pong */
     mstime_t data_received;  /* Unix time we received any data */