Digg launched a new images section yesterday with some interesting new features for all areas of the site, not just the images section. As well as a clever duplicate image detector every story in any section is allowed a thumbnail.
When a user submits a story to Digg the page is analysed to find compatible images and Digg then allows the submitter choose a thumbnail to go with the post.
You can see how eyecatching the thumbnails are by looking at the screenshot below:
As you can see a submission in the upcoming queue with a thumbnmail has a huge advantage over a submission without a thumbnail.
How to make sure you get a thumbnail
The Digg thumbnail algorithm seems to follow a similar pattern to the Google News thumbnail system. Here are some simple rules to follow:
- Make sure the image is a jpg. I have yet to see any other formats being supported however this may change
- Images will be resized to around 160 pixels wide x 120-160 high
- Use stunning images otherwise the submitter might not bother with a thumbnail
Unless you have an image that can be resized to between 160×120 and 160×160 Digg will not offer the submitter a thumbnail to go with the post unless the submission is an images submission rather than in the news category.
If you have a number of images on your page and want to force submitters to choose a good one you could make some of them a non-compatible aspect ratio but the best tactic is to make sure that every post has at least one compatible image and let your readers do the rest.
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.You can get our blog posts delivered for free by email every day - simply add your email address to the box below or alternatively grab the RSS feed.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool! I did not know this. Thanks a lot!
Good tips, thanks it seems that thumbnails are now an important factor on your Digg submissions.
Thanks, Patrick! I’ve uploaded one in case someone takes a liking to my artwork somewhere. I appreciate the info.
Peace.
I submitted one of our articles to Digg. Somehow it grabbed my a .jpg from my custom 404 error page. How did it do that, and how can I change the “dugg” article to remove it? Thank you.
Thanks, Patrick! This is a great post, u really help me a lot. my website http://playcow.com use PNG and size more than 160X160. no wonder i didn’t get the thumbnail i want everytime i sumbit post to digg. thanks again!
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