Trust Flow vs Citation Flow: Reading Majestic Metrics in Domain Research
Understand what TF and CF are trying to summarize and why the ratio is only a clue.
Majestic's Trust Flow and Citation Flow are commonly used in expired-domain screening. Citation Flow is designed around link influence/quantity while Trust Flow is designed around closeness to a curated set of trusted sites.
What this guide covers
- What Trust Flow represents
- What Citation Flow represents
- Why ratios are popular
- When ratios mislead
- Topical relevance
- Manual review
Researchers often compare the two, but a ratio is not a universal pass/fail rule. Niche, site type, historical link structure and data freshness can all affect interpretation.
A better way to make the decision
Use TF and CF to prioritize manual review, then inspect the referring domains and topical context.
Use tools to shrink a large inventory into a shortlist.
Inspect history, links, anchors, relevance and legal risk manually.
Understand whether the name is a registration, auction or backorder.
Plan the domain's legitimate use before you buy it.
Where Register Compass fits
Register Compass is most relevant at the discovery and shortlist stage. Its official site currently promotes searchable expiring, expired and auction inventory, saved filters, custom columns, CSV export, scheduled reports and third-party SEO metrics. Those conveniences can be useful for recurring research, but they do not replace independent verification of the domain itself.
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Continue researching
Use the related guides to move from broad discovery toward a documented purchase decision rather than jumping from a metric score straight to checkout.