A backlink consists of a link from an external website or web page to your website. A steady increase in the number of backlink metrics for SEO over time is a positive sign that your content is being shared by others and is of high quality.
Backlinks from relevant websites carry more weight than those from unrelated sites. This is why it’s important to monitor thematic relevance in your backlinks.
Domain Authority
Domain authority is one of the most important metrics to track. It is an indicator of the overall strength of your website, and it helps you predict how well your site will rank on SERPs. It also allows you to compare your website against competitors’.
DA is based on the number of quality backlinks that your website has. A higher DA score means that your website is more likely to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
You can use tools like Ahrefs and Moz to measure your domain authority. However, keep in mind that the DA score fluctuates often. This may be due to link spam or other factors. If you see a dramatic increase or decrease in your DA, consider adding the referring domains to a disavow file.
To improve your DA score, make sure that you get links from high-quality websites. Also, ensure that the anchor texts you use are contextually relevant to your content.
Page Authority
Page Authority (PA) is a ranking factor that predicts the potential of a webpage to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). It considers the strength of a website or page’s backlink profile and its own content, including keyword optimization and relevance.
As an SEO metric, PA provides valuable context to assess and prioritize webpages for optimization and to track progress over time. Agency leaders can analyze and compare PA scores against competitors or similar pages within their own domains, assessing the competitive gap and determining where additional investment may be needed.
Additionally, analyzing and tracking PA scores helps agencies to determine the impact of changes in a site’s organic visibility over time and make appropriate adjustments as needed. A metric that is constantly changing, PA should be assessed and tracked alongside other metrics to get the full picture of what’s driving or hindering rankings. Use tools like Semrush’s Backlink Analytics, which doubles as a Page Authority checker, to monitor PA over time for the most accurate assessment of a webpage’s ability to rank well in search engines.
Citation Flow
The citation flow metric is an important tool for identifying high-quality backlinks. However, you should use it with caution as a standalone measure, as it does not reflect how search engines like Google treat specific websites. It is also easy to misread this metric by focusing too much on quantity and neglecting quality.
This metric is often used in conjunction with another metric developed by Majestic SEO – Trust Flow, which focuses on the trustworthiness of backlinks. Combined, they provide an overview of a website’s authority based on the links that point to it.
Using these metrics to analyze competitor’s backlink profiles can give you insights into their link-building strategy. For example, if your competitors have higher Citation and Trust Flow scores than you do, it could indicate that they are leveraging high-quality content or niche-related backlinks. You can then identify similar opportunities and pursue them. You can also use the metrics to find broken links on high-authority sites in your industry and reach out to the site owners about linking to you.
Trust Flow
Having a high Trust Flow can increase your search engine rankings and establish your website as an authority in its niche or industry. It can also help you earn more clicks and convert visitors to customers. To improve your Trust Flow, make sure your backlinks are from reputable and authoritative sources. Also, avoid using black-hat SEO techniques, such as link building or paid links.
Another useful metric is Majestic’s Topical Trust Flow, which analyzes the thematic relevance of a site’s backlinks. This provides a more granular view of your backlink profile and helps you target specific keyword phrases.
To boost your TF, create valuable content such as expert interviews, roundups, or whitepapers. These can attract the attention of other influential sites and lead to backlinks. However, CF and TF should not replace on-page SEO efforts, such as optimizing meta tags and user-friendly navigation. Furthermore, these metrics don’t update as often as Google’s PageRank or Ahrefs’ domain ranking and URL rank.