diff --git a/scripts/yocto-check-layer b/scripts/yocto-check-layer
index e747451366..2fcb90acdc 100755
--- a/scripts/yocto-check-layer
+++ b/scripts/yocto-check-layer
@@ -214,7 +214,9 @@ def main():
         logger.info('Getting initial signatures ...')
         td['builddir'] = builddir
         try:
-            td['sigs'], td['tunetasks'] = get_signatures(td['builddir'])
+            # Only test_signatures, a common test, compares against them
+            if not args.run_tests or 'common' in [t.split('.')[0] for t in args.run_tests]:
+                td['sigs'], td['tunetasks'] = get_signatures(td['builddir'])
         except RuntimeError as e:
             logger.info(str(e))
             results[layer['name']] = None