diff --git a/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest.go b/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest.go
index facbb6c..2d5730c 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest.go
@@ -1,42 +1,43 @@
 package manifest
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/containrrr/watchtower/pkg/registry/auth"
+	url2 "net/url"
+
 	"github.com/containrrr/watchtower/pkg/registry/helpers"
 	"github.com/containrrr/watchtower/pkg/types"
 	ref "github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
-	url2 "net/url"
-	"strings"
 )
 
 // BuildManifestURL from raw image data
 func BuildManifestURL(container types.Container) (string, error) {
-
-	normalizedName, err := ref.ParseNormalizedNamed(container.ImageName())
-	if err != nil {
+	var normalizedTaggedRef ref.NamedTagged
+	if normalizedRef, err := ref.ParseDockerRef(container.ImageName()); err == nil {
+		var isTagged bool
+		normalizedTaggedRef, isTagged = normalizedRef.(ref.NamedTagged)
+		if !isTagged {
+			return "", errors.New("Parsed container image ref has no tag: " + normalizedRef.String())
+		}
+	} else {
 		return "", err
 	}
 
-	host, err := helpers.NormalizeRegistry(normalizedName.String())
-	img, tag := ExtractImageAndTag(strings.TrimPrefix(container.ImageName(), host+"/"))
+	host, err := helpers.NormalizeRegistry(normalizedTaggedRef.Name())
+	img, tag := ExtractImageAndTag(normalizedTaggedRef)
 
 	logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
 		"image":      img,
 		"tag":        tag,
-		"normalized": normalizedName,
+		"normalized": normalizedTaggedRef.Name(),
 		"host":       host,
 	}).Debug("Parsing image ref")
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
-	img = auth.GetScopeFromImageName(img, host)
 
-	if !strings.Contains(img, "/") {
-		img = "library/" + img
-	}
 	url := url2.URL{
 		Scheme: "https",
 		Host:   host,
@@ -45,23 +46,7 @@ func BuildManifestURL(container types.Container) (string, error) {
 	return url.String(), nil
 }
 
-// ExtractImageAndTag from a concatenated string
-func ExtractImageAndTag(imageName string) (string, string) {
-	var img string
-	var tag string
-
-	if strings.Contains(imageName, ":") {
-		parts := strings.Split(imageName, ":")
-		if len(parts) > 2 {
-			img = parts[0]
-			tag = strings.Join(parts[1:], ":")
-		} else {
-			img = parts[0]
-			tag = parts[1]
-		}
-	} else {
-		img = imageName
-		tag = "latest"
-	}
-	return img, tag
+// ExtractImageAndTag from image reference
+func ExtractImageAndTag(namedTaggedRef ref.NamedTagged) (string, string) {
+	return ref.Path(namedTaggedRef), namedTaggedRef.Tag()
 }
diff --git a/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest_test.go b/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest_test.go
index 95f196b..2c81323 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest_test.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/manifest/manifest_test.go
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 package manifest_test
 
 import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
 	"github.com/containrrr/watchtower/internal/actions/mocks"
 	"github.com/containrrr/watchtower/pkg/registry/manifest"
 	apiTypes "github.com/docker/docker/api/types"
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
-	"testing"
-	"time"
 )
 
 func TestManifest(t *testing.T) {
@@ -16,60 +17,54 @@ func TestManifest(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 var _ = Describe("the manifest module", func() {
-	mockId := "mock-id"
-	mockName := "mock-container"
-	mockCreated := time.Now()
-
-	When("building a manifest url", func() {
+	Describe("BuildManifestURL", func() {
 		It("should return a valid url given a fully qualified image", func() {
 			expected := "https://ghcr.io/v2/containrrr/watchtower/manifests/latest"
-			imageInfo := apiTypes.ImageInspect{
-				RepoTags: []string{
-					"ghcr.io/k6io/operator:latest",
-				},
-			}
-			mock := mocks.CreateMockContainerWithImageInfo(mockId, mockName, "ghcr.io/containrrr/watchtower:latest", mockCreated, imageInfo)
-			res, err := manifest.BuildManifestURL(mock)
+
+			URL, err := buildMockContainerManifestURL("ghcr.io/containrrr/watchtower:latest")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(res).To(Equal(expected))
+			Expect(URL).To(Equal(expected))
 		})
-		It("should assume dockerhub for non-qualified images", func() {
+		It("should assume Docker Hub for non-qualified images", func() {
 			expected := "https://index.docker.io/v2/containrrr/watchtower/manifests/latest"
-			imageInfo := apiTypes.ImageInspect{
-				RepoTags: []string{
-					"containrrr/watchtower:latest",
-				},
-			}
 
-			mock := mocks.CreateMockContainerWithImageInfo(mockId, mockName, "containrrr/watchtower:latest", mockCreated, imageInfo)
-			res, err := manifest.BuildManifestURL(mock)
+			URL, err := buildMockContainerManifestURL("containrrr/watchtower:latest")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(res).To(Equal(expected))
+			Expect(URL).To(Equal(expected))
 		})
-		It("should assume latest for images that lack an explicit tag", func() {
+		It("should assume latest for image refs without an explicit tag", func() {
 			expected := "https://index.docker.io/v2/containrrr/watchtower/manifests/latest"
-			imageInfo := apiTypes.ImageInspect{
 
-				RepoTags: []string{
-					"containrrr/watchtower",
-				},
-			}
-
-			mock := mocks.CreateMockContainerWithImageInfo(mockId, mockName, "containrrr/watchtower", mockCreated, imageInfo)
-
-			res, err := manifest.BuildManifestURL(mock)
+			URL, err := buildMockContainerManifestURL("containrrr/watchtower")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(res).To(Equal(expected))
+			Expect(URL).To(Equal(expected))
 		})
-		It("should combine the tag name and digest pinning into one digest, given multiple colons", func() {
-			in := "containrrr/watchtower:latest@sha256:daf7034c5c89775afe3008393ae033529913548243b84926931d7c84398ecda7"
-			image, tag := "containrrr/watchtower", "latest@sha256:daf7034c5c89775afe3008393ae033529913548243b84926931d7c84398ecda7"
+		It("should not prepend library/ for single-part container names in registries other than Docker Hub", func() {
+			expected := "https://docker-registry.domain/v2/imagename/manifests/latest"
 
-			imageOut, tagOut := manifest.ExtractImageAndTag(in)
-
-			Expect(imageOut).To(Equal(image))
-			Expect(tagOut).To(Equal(tag))
+			URL, err := buildMockContainerManifestURL("docker-registry.domain/imagename:latest")
+			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(URL).To(Equal(expected))
+		})
+		It("should throw an error on pinned images", func() {
+			imageRef := "docker-registry.domain/imagename@sha256:daf7034c5c89775afe3008393ae033529913548243b84926931d7c84398ecda7"
+			URL, err := buildMockContainerManifestURL(imageRef)
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(URL).To(BeEmpty())
 		})
 	})
-
 })
+
+func buildMockContainerManifestURL(imageRef string) (string, error) {
+	imageInfo := apiTypes.ImageInspect{
+		RepoTags: []string{
+			imageRef,
+		},
+	}
+	mockID := "mock-id"
+	mockName := "mock-container"
+	mockCreated := time.Now()
+	mock := mocks.CreateMockContainerWithImageInfo(mockID, mockName, imageRef, mockCreated, imageInfo)
+
+	return manifest.BuildManifestURL(mock)
+}