Trust Flow and Citation Flow

Trust Flow and Citation Flow are two link metrics created by the SEO tool Majestic, each scored from 0 to 100. Citation Flow estimates how much link influence a URL or site has, while Trust Flow estimates how trustworthy those links are, based on how closely they connect to trusted sites.

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

How each metric works

Citation Flow (CF) is broadly about quantity and influence. A page with many links pointing to it, especially from pages that themselves have many links, scores higher. It does not judge whether those links are good.

Trust Flow (TF) is about quality. Majestic starts with a set of hand-picked, trusted seed sites. The closer a page is to those seeds in the web’s link graph, the higher its Trust Flow. Links from spammy corners of the web add little.

Majestic also offers Topical Trust Flow, which groups links into subject categories such as health or sport. This shows what topics a site’s link profile is associated with.

Scores can be checked for a single URL, a subdomain or a whole domain. Majestic updates its index regularly, so figures move as it finds new links and drops old ones.

Reading the ratio

Many SEOs compare the two numbers:

  • TF close to CF: usually suggests a balanced profile where links are reasonably trusted.
  • CF much higher than TF: can indicate lots of low-quality links, a common sign of spam or toxic backlinks.
  • Both low: often a new or small site with few links.

The ratio is a rule of thumb used in the industry, not a formula Majestic or Google guarantees.

Why it matters for SEO

These scores help with backlink analysis, judging link prospects and spotting suspicious domains. They are especially useful for checking expired domains and possible private blog networks, where Citation Flow may be inflated but Trust Flow stays low, or where Topical Trust Flow does not match the site’s current subject.

However, Google does not use Trust Flow or Citation Flow. Like Domain Authority and Domain Rating, they are third-party estimates based on one tool’s own crawl of the web. Google’s systems, including PageRank, work on far more data.

How to use them sensibly

  1. Compare sites within the same niche rather than across very different industries.
  2. Look at Topical Trust Flow to check a linking site is relevant to yours.
  3. Use them alongside real traffic, content quality and relevance checks.
  4. Track trends over time rather than reacting to small changes.
  5. Remember different tools measure differently, so do not mix scores between tools.

Common mistakes

The main mistake is treating these numbers as goals. Chasing a higher Trust Flow by buying links from high-scoring sites misses the point and can break Google’s policies. Another is rejecting good, relevant link opportunities because a small local site has a low score.

Key Takeaways

  • Trust Flow and Citation Flow are Majestic metrics scored from 0 to 100.
  • Citation Flow reflects link volume and influence.
  • Trust Flow reflects closeness to trusted seed sites.
  • A Citation Flow far above Trust Flow can signal low-quality links.
  • Google does not use either metric in its rankings.
  • Use them as one input alongside relevance, traffic and content quality.

Related Terms

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