Link Building
Citation Flow
Quick definition
Citation Flow is Majestic's 0–100 metric measuring the quantity of backlinks pointing at a site, regardless of their quality.
Citation Flow rises with raw link volume. A site with many low-quality backlinks can have a high Citation Flow but low Trust Flow.
Why Citation Flow matters
Compare Trust Flow vs. Citation Flow ratios when vetting prospects. A site with TF 10 and CF 60 is heavily linked but largely untrusted.
How Citation Flow works in practice
Don't use Citation Flow in isolation. It's most informative when paired with Trust Flow, organic traffic, and topical relevance.
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Related terms
Trust Flow
Trust Flow is Majestic's 0–100 metric measuring the quality and trustworthiness of a website's backlink profile.
Domain Rating (DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0–100 score measuring the strength of a website's backlink profile relative to others in its index.
Spam Score
Spam Score is Moz's 0–17 metric estimating how likely a site is to be penalized or considered low-quality based on common spam signals.
Citation
A citation is a mention of your business name, address, or phone number (NAP) on a third-party site, often without a hyperlink — important primarily for local SEO.
Foundational Links
Foundational links are baseline, easy-to-acquire backlinks (business directories, social profiles, citations) that make a brand's link profile look natural.
Co-Citation
Co-citation occurs when two websites are mentioned together by a third site, even without a direct hyperlink between them.