What is Trust Flow? Why is it an Essential SEO Metric?

What is Trust Flow? Why is it an Essential SEO Metric?

Do you know if your website is qualitative? If not, don’t worry. The trust flow metric analyses the trustworthiness of your site. Let’s see how.

With the expansion in digital trends, online marketing tactics have also evolved and continue to grow. It appears as if a new digital marketing strategy has emerged and become the must-know for every related field or organization. Being updated with the trends and tools is an essential aspect for businesses to stand in the growing markets. Most of all, analyzing the trustworthiness of your site is important to ensure its quality. One of the best tools for the same is Trust Flow.

In this article, we will learn more about this SEO tool and how it will benefit in ranking your website in Google.

What is Trust Flow in SEO?

It is one of the key SEO metrics that analyses the trustworthiness of your website based on its quality, authority, and visibility in the search engine result pages. Although there are many performance-tracking tools in SEO metrics, with the changes in Google’s algorithms many new metrics have evolved. Out of this, Trust Flow generates a clear and fuller picture by measuring the number of clicks a page receives from trusted sites.

For example, if your website is authoritative and qualitative, your site’s trust flow will increase, hence, improving the trust score. The increase or decrease of the trust flow score is determined by the flow of traffic through trustworthy or untrustworthy links respectively. It is one of the chosen metrics for performing link audits, prospects for links, or analyzing the competition.

In 2012, Majestic introduced two metrics – Citation Flow and Trust Flow, as part of its Flow Metrics algorithm. The two grew up to be highly popular and in demand in the SEO world for ranking a website on the basis of trust, quality, and authority. However, the two hold stark differences.

Now that you know about what is trust flow, let’s move forward toward understanding what is citation flow and how the two are different from each other.

What is the Difference Between Citation Flow and Trust Flow

Trust flow and citation flow are used to measure the popularity of the links. However, citation flow does not consider the link quality. It focuses only on the popularity of the site. If your site is popular with ample links pointing toward it but lacks trust and quality, it means it has a high citation flow and low trust flow.

A higher citation flow indicates that the multiple links pointing toward its popularity have low quality. The perfect ratio for any website’s citation flow and trust flow is 1:1. An increase in the trust flow means that the citation flow is already high, but an increase in the citation flow does not necessarily mean an increase in the trust flow.

Links with high citation flow that point to your website will boost your site’s citation flow, but negatively impact the trust flow. It is difficult to get a higher trust flow rating than an increased citation flow rating because the latter will always be high as it also counts links are irrelevant.

Trust flow and organic search results have a direct connection as Google rewards websites that have high trust flow because they provide qualitative backlinks. Also, Google ranks these websites higher in comparison to other sites.

How is Trust Flow Calculated?

Trust Flow is a metric used in SEO to measure the trustworthiness and authority of a website’s backlink profile. It’s one part of Majestic’s link analysis tool, which provides insights into the quality of links pointing to a website. Here’s a simplified overview of how to calculate Trust Flow:

1. Access Majestic’s Tool – To calculate Trust Flow, you’ll need access to Majestic’s SEO tool or use a third-party tool that integrates Majestic’s data.
2. Select the URL or Domain – Enter the URL or domain you want to analyze. Majestic will then gather data on the backlinks to that URL or domain.
3. Review the Trust Flow Metric – Majestic’s Trust Flow metric typically ranges from 1 to 100. The higher the Trust Flow score, the more trustworthy and authoritative the website is considered in terms of its backlink profile.
4. Analyze the Data – You can also examine the Citation Flow, which measures the quantity of backlinks. Trust Flow and Citation Flow are often compared to assess the balance between link quality and quantity. A high Trust Flow relative to Citation Flow is indicative of a strong, authoritative backlink profile.

What is Topical Trust Flow?

Topical trust flow represents a distinct facet within the trust flow framework, offering a specialized evaluation of the relevance of inbound links directed at a particular website. This refined rating enhances the precision of the trust flow metric and is most effective when used alongside your trust flow assessment. It proves immensely valuable for optimizing any link-building strategy.

How to Identify a Good Trust Flow Website?

Now that you know about trust flow and citation flow, many website owners are curious to know whether their website has a good trust flow score or not. Although there isn’t any specific formula to calculate the trust score, its ranking can be broadly categorized into three sections.

1. A site with a score of 50 or above is categorized as the one with a high level of trust. Its trustworthiness can be considered similar to that of YouTube, TED Talks, etc.
2. A score between the range of 10 to 50 indicates an average trust score, similar to that of Reuters, MSN, etc.
3. A trust score of 10 or below indicates a very low level of trust. Often, new websites or those that have incorporated manipulative SEO practices fall into this category.

Websites that come under the first category are considered as those with high quality and reputation. However, those that fall under the second or third category need modification or improvement in their SEO strategies.

How to Boost Your Website’s Trust Flow SEO?

If your website’s current trust score comes under the above-mentioned second or third range, consider boosting it efficiently. Instead of focusing just on quantity, find quality backlinks with authority scores. There are three ways to do the same, namely –

1. Link with influencers – Connect with active influencers in your niche to generate quality backlinks. Begin by conducting keyword research and identifying prominent bloggers and experts who feature prominently in search engine results. Subsequently, utilize Majestic’s backlink tool to track their Trust Flow and ensure their Topical Trust Flow aligns with your industry. Initiate contact with these influencers to promote your business and provide them with high-quality content in exchange for a potential backlink. When you present them with engaging and valuable content, they are more likely to readily accept your proposition, enabling you to cultivate valuable relationships.

• Publish on sites with good trust scores – Engaging in guest posting is an effective strategy for acquiring authoritative backlinks from reputable websites and boosting your Trust Flow score. Similar to influencer outreach, it’s crucial to assess a potential guest posting platform using Majestic’s tool to evaluate its trust flow. If a website’s trust flow score falls below 10, it may not be worthwhile to invest in content creation for publication on that platform. Additionally, ensure that the links embedded within your guest posts are not tagged as “Nofollow.” When a website employs Nofollow links for guest-contributed content, these backlinks won’t contribute positively to your Trust Flow.
• Create internal links – Establishing internal links is a straightforward strategy for enhancing both your Trust Flow and SEO. While crafting content, ensure it includes a minimum of two to three links directing users to other pages within your website. A well-optimized homepage can further enhance the Trust Flow and SEO performance of all pages linked to it. Moreover, besides benefiting SEO, internal links also simplify navigation for your website visitors, providing them with a more user-friendly and intuitive browsing experience.

• Constantly check backlinks – Consistently reviewing your backlinks may not directly boost your Trust Flow, but it plays a vital role in maintaining a strong and healthy score. Regularly auditing your backlinks and eliminating undesirable ones ensures your Trust Flow remains consistently high. This elevated score serves as evidence that you diligently maintain your website’s quality, making it an attractive destination for others seeking valuable connections. Consequently, other websites will gain confidence in linking to your site, thereby enhancing your SEO performance through increased link credibility and trustworthiness.

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