You may have heard of the terms trust flow and citation flow, but if you don’t fully understand them they can seem quite daunting. Not for much longer; as we are about to explain trust and citation flow, tell you why they are so substantial in your marketing campaign, and explain the benefits of link building.
A trust flow and citation flow score can be anything from 0 to 100, although we have never seen a score of 100. Even google.co.uk isn’t at 100, so one of the first things to know is that these two scores can take a long time to improve but in good time you will see a change; providing you have a continuous SEO or marketing campaign.
Majestic Trust and Citation Flows
Majestic works in weird and wonderful ways. With results from your trust flow and citation flow and topical trust flow ever changing, you need to be aware of the links you use. Be cautious of where you place backlinks as they can make a huge impact on your backlink profile and scoring.
From the topical trust flow to finding your new and lost backlinks, Majestic is an excellent tool to use when analysing your backlink profile. It may seem confusing, but when each section is explained, it becomes easier to understand. So jump over to Majestic and let’s go through some of the main tools it offers.
First, you’ll need to enter your business domain and click search.
Here, you’ll see your results. Majestic offers a free service, so you won’t need to sign up for this demonstration. As we’re a marketing agency, we have a paid subscription to Majestic so we will see a more in-depth outcome from the search. We will still run through some features you may not be able to see, but if you are a client of ours we can send your Majestic score over to you to view.
Also note that you will get different results based on the URL you enter into Majestic. For example:
https://www.outrank.co.uk/ – URL outrank.co.uk – Root domain www.outrank.co.uk – Subdomain https://www.outrank.co.uk/search-engine-optimisation/ – Path (URL*)
Unless we’re analysing a page, in particular, we would always cross-reference the URL to the root domain to see how things are going.
Upon completing your search, you will be able to scroll down the page, which will allow you to view various things such as: link content, URL backlink history, backlink breakdown, referring domains, anchor text, as well as the nav under site explorer where this will let you view more information on the above topics.
Majestic Tools Explained
Trust flow – This will give you a score based on the quality of your links.
Topical trust flow – When you place a link, Majestic will put them under topics. So based on the links you have, it will gather the most common topics together, giving you yours. Please note that www.gardeningdirectoryforbeginners.co.uk won’t automatically go under Home / Gardening, because like yours, its topical trust flow will be based on the links they’ve placed. So you might find them under Computers / Internet, hence why the correct link placement is so important.
Citation flow – This is scored based on the volume of links.
URL backlink history – This chart shows the number of external links reviewed.
Referring domains – Here you will find more information on the links used i.e if they’re a follow link or if they go to the homepage.
Anchor text – This will show you the most common types of anchor text you’ve used for the domain in question.
New and lost – Find your new backlinks on this tab or click onto lost where you will see any backlinks you’ve lost, when and where from.
Can Improving My Trust and Citation Flow Benefit My Business?
By working on improving your backlink profile, including your trust and citation flow can help massively. You can work to improve your scoring, as well as the topical trust flow you fall under. SEO is built into 3 core parts. Technical, Links and Content. TLC. So by focusing on your backlinks can help to improve your rankings on SERPs. Not only that but backlinking will give you more areas of advertising and can potentially bring in new leads for your business. Win, win!
What Links Do I Need to Improve My Trust and Citation Flow?
Both trust and citation flows are built and scored differently. Trust flow is based on the quality of the links, whereas citation is based on the volume. But what do you need to do to improve them? Some of the ways you can improve your trust and citation flow are:
Trust flow – You can build and work on your trust flow score by building: internal links, paid directory placements, sponsored links, and article outreach.
Citation flow – You can work on and build up your citation flow by creating links on: directories, national, niche and local citations, competitor backlinks, and website placements.
How to Work on Your Trust and Citation Flow
One thing we would like to stress is how important it is to try to keep your trust flow and citation flow scoring as close as possible. There is no benefit in having a trust flow of 8 but a citation flow of 24, as it isn’t in proportion to one another. This can raise flags and the page might look spammy to Google as it won’t come across as natural or in a steady flow. Although you may be keen to build backlinks to your website having read this blog, we would suggest that it’s done properly and professionally. Doing it incorrectly can actually have a negative impact on your rankings and your backlink profile.
Contact Outrank Today
Always be cautious of where you’re linking to, their Majestic results and how many backlinks you’re doing at once. Too much at once can flag up, so always maintain a steady flow and make sure you’re constantly working on improving your Majestic trust flow and citation flow. If you would like to discuss a link campaign with us, then please contact Outrank today.
