These factors relate to URL formats and the use of XML sitemaps:
URL & Sitemap Factors
1=strongest factor; 8=weakest
OpEd Commentary:
“The Google News Sitemap: Learn it. Know it. Live it.” - AJ Kohn
“It’s highly effective to have general and news sitemap set up for stories on media sites” - Eleanor Hong
“If you’re not using a Google News Sitemap you need to use the 3 digits in your URLs” - Marshall Simmonds
“Keywords in URLs are becoming less effective as they proliferate” - Adam Audette
“In general, we still see better results from creating a new page for story updates than by updating a previously submitted URL.” - Matthew Brown
“Use of the same URL when updating an article is another church/state issue for SEOs. Most editors just want to update the same URL/same page where as SEOs may encourage new articles” - Eleanor Hong
“If it’s a substantial change to the story, then it’s best to create a brand new page” - Simon Heseltine