Citation Flow

Citation Flow is an SEO metric developed by the Majestic tool that scores, on a scale from 0 to 100, the quantitative strength of the link profile pointing to a given page or domain. The more links point to an address, and the stronger the linking pages, the higher the Citation Flow. The metric focuses on the scale of linking rather than its quality — which is why it is always analyzed together with Trust Flow.

How Citation Flow works

Majestic builds its own index of the web and maps the connections between pages. Citation Flow is computed iteratively: a page passes part of its value to the pages it links to, and those pass it further. The result is a scale reflecting how deeply an address is embedded in the web of links. The mechanism resembles the idea behind PageRank, but counts only the number and power of links, not their trustworthiness.

The key to interpretation is the relationship between the two metrics. Similar CF and TF values suggest a healthy, natural link profile. A high Citation Flow with a low Trust Flow often signals that a domain has gathered many low-quality links, for example from spammy link networks.

Practical applications

SEO specialists use Citation Flow for a quick read of a domain's strength and to benchmark it against competitors.

• Competitor analysis — comparing domains' CF helps estimate who built a stronger link profile.
• Evaluating potential links — before acquiring a backlink, it is worth checking the source page's CF and TF.
• Risk detection — a large gap between CF and TF warns of an unnatural link profile.

Keep in mind that Citation Flow is a Majestic metric, not an official Google signal. It serves a supporting role when planning a link building strategy and should be treated as one of many signals.