diff --git a/.gitlab-ci-pages.yml b/.gitlab-ci-pages.yml
index 37971e0d694bc293d6baf970cfc2eecc3de8746e..3f99565f70ebae286894fc98aa3cbca77228d0bf 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci-pages.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci-pages.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ pages:
     expire_in: 1h
 
   # Only deploy to GitLab pages on protected tags (more about that in the Contributing page)
+  # and only if DEPLOY_PAGES is set (which is set in the separate private pages repo)
   only:
     variables:
       - $CI_COMMIT_TAG =~ /^v.*$/
+      - $DEPLOY_PAGES