diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit.go b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit.go
index d7b9b1e6954..aeeb829afa3 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func (c *GitCommit) Labels() map[string]string {
 
 // GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName tags an image with the supplied image name and the git commit.
 func (c *GitCommit) GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName(workingDir string, imageName string) (string, error) {
-	hash, err := runGit(workingDir, "rev-parse", "--short", "HEAD")
+	ref, err := runGit(workingDir, "describe", "--tags", "--always")
 	if err != nil {
 		logrus.Warnln("Unable to find git commit:", err)
 		return fmt.Sprintf("%s:dirty", imageName), nil
@@ -51,16 +51,10 @@ func (c *GitCommit) GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName(workingDir string, imageName
 	}
 
 	if len(changes) > 0 {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s-dirty", imageName, hash), nil
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s-dirty", imageName, ref), nil
 	}
 
-	// Ignore error. It means there's no tag.
-	tag, _ := runGit(workingDir, "describe", "--tags", "--exact-match")
-	if len(tag) > 0 {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", imageName, tag), nil
-	}
-
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", imageName, hash), nil
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", imageName, ref), nil
 }
 
 func runGit(workingDir string, arg ...string) (string, error) {
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit_test.go b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit_test.go
index 46bd71b2383..3ded7e4aff4 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit_test.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/build/tag/git_commit_test.go
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ func TestGitCommit_GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			description:  "ignore tag when dirty",
-			expectedName: "test:eefe1b9-dirty",
+			description:  "dirty tag",
+			expectedName: "test:v1-dirty",
 			createGitRepo: func(dir string) {
 				gitInit(t, dir).
 					write("source.go", []byte("code")).
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ func TestGitCommit_GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			description:  "don't use tag if not exact match",
-			expectedName: "test:3cec6b9",
+			description:  "tag plus one commit",
+			expectedName: "test:v1-1-g3cec6b9",
 			createGitRepo: func(dir string) {
 				gitInit(t, dir).
 					write("source.go", []byte("code")).
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ func TestGitCommit_GenerateFullyQualifiedImageName(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 		{
 			description:  "updated artifact in dirty repo",
-			expectedName: "test:0c60cb8-dirty",
+			expectedName: "test:v1-dirty",
 			createGitRepo: func(dir string) {
 				gitInit(t, dir).
 					mkdir("artifact1").write("artifact1/source.go", []byte("code")).