Trust Flow

Majestic builds its own web index. From a hand picked set of trusted seed sites, it measures how close your backlinks are to that trust. The nearer your link graph sits to those seeds, the higher your Trust Flow.

Citation Flow is its companion score for link volume. Topical Trust Flow splits Trust Flow by category, so you can see trust within themes like Software or News.

Use Trust Flow to spot link quality issues without a full audit. It is quick signal, not a goal. Track your homepage and any page you build links to, like /guides/getting-started or a /pricing page that gets mentions.

Example: yourproduct.com shows Trust Flow 8 and Citation Flow 30. That pattern suggests many low quality links. After cleaning spammy directories and adding two links from relevant blogs, you might see Trust Flow rise into the teens while Citation Flow stays stable or falls a little. That is fine.

• Low Trust Flow and low Citation Flow, you have few links. Focus on earning first relevant mentions.
• Low Trust Flow and high Citation Flow, many links are low quality or off topic. Audit and prune. Aim for fewer, better referring domains.
• Rising Trust Flow with flat Citation Flow, you are earning better links. Keep going on that channel.
• Topical Trust Flow that matches your niche, your links are relevant. If it tilts to unrelated topics, re balance your outreach.

Always look at referring domains. Ten links from one site often move Citation Flow more than Trust Flow. One link from a close to seed, topical site can lift Trust Flow more than ten weak ones.

1. 1

   Check the scores for your domain and key pages

   Use Majestic or a tool that shows Majestic metrics. Note Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and Topical Trust Flow for the root and any target pages.

2. 2

   List your referring domains

   Group by relevance to your product. Flag off topic blogs, free directories, and obvious link swaps.

3. 3

   Tidy low value links you control

   Remove spammy directory profiles and footer sitewide links you own. If removal is not possible, leave them, you do not need a disavow by default.

4. 4

   Earn relevant, cited mentions

   Pitch a practical guide with data, publish a small dataset, or write a teardown that others in your niche will cite. Aim for new referring domains.

5. 5

   Fix internal linking

   Link from strong pages to your key pages with clear anchor text. It helps flow any value you already have to /pricing or /features.

A fixed profile looks like Trust Flow rising while your Topical Trust Flow lines up with your niche, and your referring domains list shows more relevant sites than before.

• Chasing a number. Trust Flow is a comparative metric, not a KPI. Use it to compare you and your rivals on the same queries.
• Buying links that promise higher Trust Flow. You often get network links that inflate Citation Flow and do not move Trust Flow.
• Comparing across tools. Ahrefs, Semrush and others have their own authority metrics. Do not mix scales.
• Ignoring page level. Your homepage may score higher. Check the exact URL that ranks or that you pitch.
• Expecting Google to use it. As of 2026, Trust Flow is not a Google signal. Treat it as a proxy for link quality in one index.