What is Trust Flow?

Trust Flow is a metric used in SEO to evaluate the trustworthiness of a website based on the quality of the links pointing to it. It’s part of Majestic’s suite of link metrics, helping marketers, SEOs, and site owners gauge the credibility and link strength of a website’s backlink profile.

Understanding Trust Flow

Trust Flow is one of those SEO metrics that’s often talked about but rarely explained well. If you’re working on improving your site’s authority, this is a metric you need to understand. It’s a proprietary score developed by Majestic that helps you figure out how trustworthy your website is based on the quality of backlinks pointing to it.

Unlike purely quantitative metrics that tally backlinks or domain authority, Trust Flow qualitatively gauges how reliable and contextually relevant those links are. A few links from reputable websites can do more for your SEO than hundreds from spammy ones. It’s less about volume and more about the quality of backlinks.

If you’re a SaaS business trying to improve rankings, understanding Trust Flow as part of your SaaS SEO strategy is essential for sustainable growth.

Definition of Trust Flow

Trust Flow is a qualitative SEO metric that measures the trustworthiness of a webpage or domain based on the quality of inbound links. Developed by Majestic, this score ranges from 0 to 100, and it reflects how closely a site is connected to trusted seed sites.

The concept is simple: if websites with high trust scores link to you, some of that trust flows to your site. It’s a direct signal to search engines about your site’s credibility and authority, making it a key ranking factor in many SEO strategies.

This metric often works alongside Citation Flow, which measures link quantity. For a balanced view, SEOs often refer to Trust Flow and Citation Flow together.

Examples of Trust Flow

Say you run a blog and get a backlink from a government (.gov) website or a reputable news outlet—your Trust Flow score will likely jump. But if you’re getting links from link farms, spammy sites, or directory-style links, it may hurt your score or dilute its strength.

For example:

• A backlink from TED Talks or BBC = higher Trust Flow
• A link from a low-quality directory or spun content blog = potentially harmful or has no real SEO value.

If you’re unsure what counts as a high-quality backlink, consider doing a professional SEO audit to check your current profile.

Factors That Weaken Trust Flow

Duplicate Content

Websites filled with duplicate content don’t just affect user experience—they can lower your Trust Flow. Search engines may see such content as spammy or manipulative.

Scraped Content

If your site hosts content copied from other websites without adding value, that can damage your trust score. Trustworthy links rarely come to scraped pages.

Doorway Pages

These are pages created to rank for specific keywords and funnel users elsewhere. They don’t offer quality content and tend to get flagged by search engines.

Ad-Heavy Pages

Pages that overwhelm users with ads often struggle to build trustworthy backlinks. They feel spammy and don’t deliver value.

Auto-Generated Content

Automatically generated text tends to be low in quality. It doesn’t attract natural backlinks and can lower your site’s perceived trustworthiness.

For websites focused on growth, aligning content with a strong SaaS content strategy can reduce these risks.

Causes of Low Trust Flow

Automated Content Generation

Sites that rely on AI-generated or auto-spun content often attract low-quality links, which drags down Trust Flow.

Low-Quality Affiliate Links

Adding substantial, unique content and clear disclaimers can help maintain trust while using affiliate links. That affects your link profile and trust score.

Deceptive SEO Practices

Buying backlinks, keyword stuffing, or using black hat methods can increase the quantity of links, but not their quality. This hurts your search engine performance.

To avoid such traps, use white-hat methods like guest posting on authoritative sites.

Impact on SEO

User Experience and Engagement

Trust Flow affects user trust. A site with better links tends to be more helpful, leading to higher engagement metrics like time on site and pages per session.

Search Engine Penalties

Poor Trust Flow often goes hand in hand with toxic backlinks or unnatural links. These can trigger penalties, causing sharp dips in traffic.

Decrease in Search Visibility

Search engines favor websites that have links from high-authority websites. Low Trust Flow might mean your site doesn’t show up where it should.

If your rankings have taken a hit recently, our technical SEO services can help uncover the root causes.

Identifying Trust Flow

Using Google Search Console Data

While Trust Flow itself isn’t in Google Search Console, you can check for suspicious linking domains or sudden changes in traffic patterns.

Conducting Site Audits

Use tools like Majestic, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to run backlink audits. Look for spammy links, irrelevant links, or sudden changes in Citation Flow and Trust Flow.

Evaluating User Metrics and Engagement

High bounce rates and low time on site can indicate content quality issues—possibly linked to low Trust Flow.

You can also run a content quality review to check which pages need updating.

Strategies to Fix Trust Flow

• Get rid of poor-quality content and rewrite key pages with high-quality, useful content. Aim to attract authoritative backlinks.
• Sometimes, cutting out pages with irrelevant topics or low domain authority is the best move.
• Focus on a content marketing strategy that adds real value. That’s what attracts trustworthy websites and quality links.

Best Practices for Avoiding Low Trust Flow

Focusing on Originality and Usefulness

Avoid thin or copied content. Write for people, not just search engines. That’s how you earn natural backlinks.

Aligning with SEO Best Practices

Use internal linking, get featured on authority domains, and build strategic link building plans using guest posts and reputable websites.

We often start by building a SaaS link-building strategy that avoids spammy shortcuts.

Regular Content Reviews and Updates

Outdated content can turn into a liability. Regular updates help maintain domain strength and avoid being seen as a spammy website.

You can also use our content optimization services to improve pages over time.

Final Thoughts

Trust Flow isn’t just a number—it’s a signal of how reliable and trustworthy your site appears to search engines. Building a healthy Trust Flow score requires consistent effort, strong content, and backlinks from quality sources. It’s not about chasing volume but earning links that genuinely matter. If you focus on creating useful, user-centered content and build connections with reputable websites, your Trust Flow will follow.

For any business aiming to grow through SEO, especially in competitive SaaS and tech-driven industries, Trust Flow should be a key metric to monitor, understand, and improve.