diff --git a/src/Search/Algolia/Index.php b/src/Search/Algolia/Index.php
index 6eab453935b..c054e117cf6 100644
--- a/src/Search/Algolia/Index.php
+++ b/src/Search/Algolia/Index.php
@@ -26,8 +26,14 @@ public function __construct(SearchClient $client, $name, $config, $locale)
 
     protected function client(): SearchClient
     {
-        if (! $this->settingsInitialized && isset($this->config['settings']) && ! $this->exists()) {
-            $this->client->setSettings($this->name, $this->config['settings']);
+        if (! $this->settingsInitialized && isset($this->config['settings'])) {
+            if (! $this->exists()) {
+                $this->client->setSettings($this->name, $this->config['settings']);
+            }
+
+            // Mark as initialized either way. Otherwise, when the index already
+            // exists, we'd never stop checking and every write would spend an
+            // extra API call on listIndices().
             $this->settingsInitialized = true;
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/Search/AlgoliaIndexTest.php b/tests/Search/AlgoliaIndexTest.php
index 06470f3d0e3..510cde1dc70 100644
--- a/tests/Search/AlgoliaIndexTest.php
+++ b/tests/Search/AlgoliaIndexTest.php
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@
 
 namespace Tests\Search;
 
+use Algolia\AlgoliaSearch\Api\SearchClient;
 use Mockery;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\Test;
 use Statamic\Search\Algolia\Index as AlgoliaIndex;
+use Statamic\Search\Documents;
 use Tests\TestCase;
 
 class AlgoliaIndexTest extends TestCase
@@ -21,4 +24,33 @@ public function getIndex($name, $config, $locale)
 
         return new AlgoliaIndex($client, $name, $config, $locale);
     }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_only_checks_whether_an_existing_index_exists_once()
+    {
+        $client = Mockery::mock(SearchClient::class);
+        $client->shouldReceive('listIndices')->once()->andReturn(['items' => [['name' => 'test']]]);
+        $client->shouldNotReceive('setSettings');
+        $client->shouldReceive('saveObjects')->times(3);
+
+        $index = new AlgoliaIndex($client, 'test', ['settings' => ['hitsPerPage' => 20]], null);
+
+        $index->insertDocuments(new Documents(collect(['one' => ['title' => 'One']])));
+        $index->insertDocuments(new Documents(collect(['two' => ['title' => 'Two']])));
+        $index->insertDocuments(new Documents(collect(['three' => ['title' => 'Three']])));
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_applies_settings_once_when_the_index_does_not_exist()
+    {
+        $client = Mockery::mock(SearchClient::class);
+        $client->shouldReceive('listIndices')->once()->andReturn(['items' => []]);
+        $client->shouldReceive('setSettings')->once()->with('test', ['hitsPerPage' => 20]);
+        $client->shouldReceive('saveObjects')->twice();
+
+        $index = new AlgoliaIndex($client, 'test', ['settings' => ['hitsPerPage' => 20]], null);
+
+        $index->insertDocuments(new Documents(collect(['one' => ['title' => 'One']])));
+        $index->insertDocuments(new Documents(collect(['two' => ['title' => 'Two']])));
+    }
 }