Glossaire · SEO

Trust Flow

Trust Flow is an authority metric created by Majestic that measures the quality and trustworthiness of a website based on how close its inbound links are to a manually selected core of trusted sites. Scored on a scale from 0 to 100, Trust Flow evaluates not the volume of backlinks but their credibility: the more a site receives links from reputable sources (institutions, established media, reference websites), the higher its score. Trust Flow contrasts with and complements Citation Flow, which measures the volume and influence of links without judging their quality. The relationship between these two indicators, called the Trust Ratio, reveals the health of a link profile: a balanced ratio signals healthy authority, while a Citation Flow far higher than Trust Flow can betray artificial or low-quality link building.

Trust Flow is one of the two flagship metrics from the Majestic tool, and it has become a reference for quickly assessing the trustworthiness of a domain or page. Where competing tools offer their own scores (Domain Authority, Domain Rating), Majestic stands out by placing trust at the center of its calculation.

How Trust Flow works

Majestic starts from a set of trusted sites selected manually, considered indisputable references in their fields. A site's Trust Flow is calculated by measuring the distance, in number of link clicks, that separates it from this trust core. The more a site receives direct or close links from these reliable sources, the higher its score climbs toward 100.

This mechanism rests on a simple idea: trust is passed through links, but it dilutes with each hop. A link earned from a site that is itself well connected to reference sources is worth far more than a link from an isolated or dubious domain.

Trust Flow and Citation Flow: the Trust Ratio

Trust Flow is never interpreted on its own. It is systematically compared to Citation Flow, which measures the quantity and power of links without accounting for their quality. The relationship between the two, the Trust Ratio (Trust Flow ÷ Citation Flow), reveals the health of a link profile.

Key takeaway

A Citation Flow markedly higher than Trust Flow is a warning sign: it often indicates a large volume of low-quality links, typical of artificial link building.

Why it matters for SEO

Trust Flow helps shape a link building strategy: before acquiring a link, you check the source domain's Trust Flow to avoid toxic sources. It also serves to audit your own profile and to spot an imbalance to correct.

At LUWIZ, we never rely on a single metric. Trust Flow is a useful indicator among others, to be cross-referenced with topical relevance and the referring site's real traffic. No third-party metric replaces a qualitative analysis of each link's context.

FAQ

Questions fréquentes

Trust Flow measures the quality and trustworthiness of inbound links based on their proximity to trusted sites. Citation Flow measures the volume and influence of links without judging their credibility. Both are scored from 0 to 100 by Majestic.

There is no universal threshold, but a Trust Flow above 30 is generally considered solid. More importantly, Trust Flow should stay close to Citation Flow: a balanced ratio signals a healthy link profile.

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