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If image search is important to you, I would suggest creating 301 redirects for all image URLs. Unfortunately, there's not an easier answer than that, especially on a self-hosted platform. If you aren't able to do that then you'll need to get by with simply uploading a new image sitemap to Google webmaster tools, and start fixing the 404 errors manually when they show up in GWT. Assuming your pages are 301ing to the new URL, then Google should find the new images pretty quickly, but might take awhile to gain rankings back.

Hi Tom, I'm glad Oleg and Ade answered your original question! To get the best responses for your new questions (and make it easy for others to find answers if they have the same questions), please post each new question individually (i.e., as a brand new question). Thanks so much, and I hope you are having a good day. Christy

Hi Tom, if you think your question had been answered, I kindly ask you to change the status of this Q&A to "Answered". If it is not, please explain why you consider this question not answered. Ciao