link buildingPublished26.05.2026

Trust Flow (TF) — Majestic trust metric

Q: What TF is considered good for a link donor?

TF ≥ 20 is an acceptable level for most niches. TF ≥ 30 is a quality donor. But context matters: TF 15 from a topical niche resource can be more valuable than TF 25 from an irrelevant directory.

Q: How does TF differ from Ahrefs' DR (Domain Rating)?

Both metrics assess link profile quality but use different methodologies. TF from Majestic focuses on 'trust' through connections to authoritative seed sites. DR from Ahrefs focuses on the weighted count of unique referring domains.

Q: Should links be purchased based on TF alone?

No. TF is one signal. Also evaluate: topical relevance, organic traffic of the donor, domain age, actual content on the placement page, and the site's reputation.

Q: Does a site's TF affect its Google rankings?

TF is not an official Google ranking factor. But high TF typically means a quality link profile, which positively influences PageRank and positions.

Trust Flow (TF) is a Majestic SEO metric that measures the quality of a site's link profile through the trustworthiness of its donors. A high TF indicates links from authoritative sources.

In brief

Trust Flow (TF) is a Majestic SEO metric (0–100) reflecting the quality and trustworthiness of a site's link profile. It is calculated based on the 'distance' from the checked site to trusted authoritative seed sites.

What is Trust Flow

Trust Flow (TF) is a metric from Majestic SEO that measures the quality of a domain's or page's link profile on a scale of 0 to 100. It is built on the idea of 'trust through connections': a site with TF 80 receives links from reliable authoritative resources that, in turn, are linked from well-established sites.

Majestic manually identified a set of trusted seed sites (such as Wikipedia, BBC, NYT). The shorter the link chain from the site being assessed to these seeds, the higher its TF.

TF is not an official Google metric. It is a third-party Majestic metric. Nevertheless, it correlates well with real domain authority and is widely used in link building to evaluate donors.

Trust Flow vs. Citation Flow

Majestic offers two metrics that should always be read together:

Metric	What it measures	What a high value means
Trust Flow (TF)	Link profile quality	Links from authoritative, trusted sources
Citation Flow (CF)	Link volume (quantity)	Many links, regardless of their quality

The TF/CF ratio (Trust Ratio) is the key diagnostic signal. A healthy ratio: TF/CF ≥ 0.5 (e.g., TF 30 / CF 50). Low TF with high CF indicates a spammy profile: many links from low-quality sources.

If a donor's TF is significantly lower than its CF (e.g., TF 5 / CF 60) — this is a red flag. High CF with low TF means many links from unreliable sites.

How to use Trust Flow

Donor analysis: before buying a link, check the donor's TF — minimum TF 15–20 for a quality resource
Diagnosing your own profile: track your main domain's TF over time — a rising TF indicates improving profile quality
Competitor analysis: compare your TF with top-ranking competitors — this benchmarks your strategy
Identifying toxic donors: low TF with high CF — the donor is spammy; disavow such links
Monitoring Topical Trust Flow: Majestic shows the topical composition of the link profile — check topical relevance

Trust Flow in link building

TF is one of the primary filters when evaluating potential donor sites for link building. Combined with DR (Domain Rating) from Ahrefs, it gives a comprehensive view of a resource's authority.

TF ≥ 30: Quality donor with a solid profile. A link from such a resource is valuable.
TF 15–29: Mid-tier level. Acceptable if the topic is relevant and CF is not disproportionately high.
TF < 15: Weak or potentially spammy donor. Requires additional due diligence.
TF/CF < 0.3: Clear sign of spam — link mass was built without quality considerations.

Trust Flow limitations

TF is a useful tool but not a perfect one. It should be used alongside other metrics and good judgment.

TF doesn't account for link profile freshness or acquisition rate
Majestic's database (Historic/Fresh Index) may not reflect the most recent changes
TF doesn't directly correlate with Google rankings — it's a third-party metric
TF can be artificially inflated, though it's harder to do than with CF
For accurate assessment, use Ahrefs DR, Moz DA, and manual analysis in parallel

FAQ

Common questions

TF ≥ 20 is an acceptable level for most niches. TF ≥ 30 is a quality donor. But context matters: TF 15 from a topical niche resource can be more valuable than TF 25 from an irrelevant directory.

Both metrics assess link profile quality but use different methodologies. TF from Majestic focuses on 'trust' through connections to authoritative seed sites. DR from Ahrefs focuses on the weighted count of unique referring domains.

No. TF is one signal. Also evaluate: topical relevance, organic traffic of the donor, domain age, actual content on the placement page, and the site's reputation.

TF is not an official Google ranking factor. But high TF typically means a quality link profile, which positively influences PageRank and positions.

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