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Field reference

SEO metrics explained: DA, Trust Flow, Citation Flow and more

Every metric we return, and what it actually tells you.

DomDetailer returns around thirty fields from three sources. This page defines each one: where it comes from, what range to expect, what a decent value looks like in practice, and what it will not tell you.

The last part matters most. Almost every metric here can be manipulated on its own. Read together, they are much harder to fake.

Guides to individual SEO metrics

Use this page as the field reference. These guides explain how to interpret the main scores, compare domains and decide which backlink checks to do next.

For an auction list, follow the bulk expired-domain review workflow or screen Spam Score across a domain list. For a name across suffixes, explore domain extension coverage.

Jump to Moz Majestic Pretty Reading them together Extension coverage Common questions

Moz

Licensed

Licensed from Moz, Inc.

Moz models how likely a page or domain is to rank, from its own web index. The scores are logarithmic, so the gap between 20 and 30 is far smaller than the gap between 70 and 80.

Bear in mind. Moz scores are a prediction of ranking ability, not a measurement of it. They move when Moz recrawls or changes their model, not when your site changes.

Domain Authority

mozDA 1-100

Moz's prediction of how well the whole domain should rank, on a logarithmic scale.

In practice

Under 10 on an aged domain usually means the link profile never developed. 20-40 is the normal band for a working niche site. Above 60 is rare outside established brands.

What it won't tell you

DA is trivially inflated by spam links. Always read it next to Spam Score and Trust Flow rather than on its own.

Understand Domain Authority · Check Domain Authority in bulk

Page Authority

mozPA 1-100

The same prediction applied to one page rather than the whole domain. We return it for the domain's home page.

In practice

Usually tracks a few points either side of DA on a home page. A large gap suggests the domain's strength sits elsewhere on the site.

What it won't tell you

PA for the home page tells you nothing about a deep page you might actually want to link from.

Check Page Authority in bulk

Spam Score

mozSpam 0-17

How many of Moz's spam flags the domain trips. It is a count of risk signals, not a verdict.

In practice

This is the documented legacy 0-17 mozSpam field. Use it to prioritise manual review; compare values only when they use the same scale.

What it won't tell you

Current Moz Spam Score uses a percentage based on a different model. Do not convert between scales or treat either score as proof of spam or a Google penalty.

Interpret Moz Spam Score · Check Spam Score in bulk

MozRank

mozRank 0-10

Link popularity on a PageRank-like scale, weighted by the popularity of the linking pages.

In practice

Most working domains land between 2 and 5. Treat it as a secondary signal behind DA.

What it won't tell you

Quantity-weighted, so it rewards volume more than relevance.

Check MozRank in bulk

MozTrust

mozTrust 0-10

Link trust measured by distance from a set of trusted seeds.

In practice

Read the gap against MozRank. Popularity well ahead of trust is the classic bought-links pattern.

What it won't tell you

Deprecated in the older v1 API. Available in v2 but not a metric to build a decision on alone.

Check MozTrust in bulk

Moz external links

mozLinks count

External inbound links Moz has recorded for the domain.

In practice

Compare with referring domains. A hundred thousand links from two hundred domains is one relationship repeated, not two hundred endorsements.

What it won't tell you

Moz and Majestic count links differently. Do not expect their totals to agree.

Check Moz external links in bulk

Majestic

Licensed

Licensed from Majestic-12 Ltd.

Majestic runs its own crawl and scores links by how close they sit to a set of trusted seed sites. Trust Flow and Citation Flow are most useful read together rather than separately.

Bear in mind. Majestic sees links, not traffic or content. A domain can carry strong flow metrics and still be worthless if the links are irrelevant to your subject.

Trust Flow

majesticTF 0-100

How close the domain's backlinks sit to Majestic's trusted seed set. Quality rather than quantity.

In practice

Compare with relevant domains of a similar size. Higher values can help prioritise a shortlist, provided the topic and actual link sources make sense.

What it won't tell you

Trust Flow can be manufactured by pointing a few trusted links at a domain. Check the Topical Trust Flow categories agree with the domain's actual subject.

What Trust Flow measures · Check Trust Flow in bulk

Citation Flow

majesticCF 0-100

How many links point at the domain, weighted by the influence of the linking pages. Quantity rather than quality.

In practice

Meaningful only next to Trust Flow. On its own, a high Citation Flow says a lot of links exist and nothing about whether they are any good.

What it won't tell you

This is the number link sellers quote when Trust Flow is unflattering.

What Citation Flow measures · Check Citation Flow in bulk

Trust to Citation ratio

TF/CF ratio 0-1+

Trust Flow divided by Citation Flow. Derived, not returned by the API - our tools calculate it for you.

In practice

Use TF divided by CF as a screening clue. A lower ratio prompts link-quality checks; there is no universal pass/fail threshold.

What it won't tell you

Leave it undefined when CF is zero. Small scores make the ratio unstable, and a low ratio does not prove manipulation.

Interpret the TF/CF ratio · Check Trust to Citation ratio in bulk

Referring domains

majesticRefDomains count

Unique domains with at least one link to the target.

In practice

Generally more informative than raw link counts. Fifty genuine referring domains beats fifty thousand links from three.

What it won't tell you

Compare referring domains with IPs and subnets. Concentration can warrant investigation, but shared hosting and CDNs also group unrelated sites.

Check Referring domains in bulk

Referring IPs

majesticRefIPs count

Unique IP addresses hosting the referring domains.

In practice

Should be reasonably close to referring domains on a natural profile.

What it won't tell you

Many domains on few IPs can reflect a related network or ordinary shared hosting. Inspect ownership and link context before deciding.

Check Referring IPs in bulk

Referring subnets

majesticRefSubnets count

Unique class C subnets among the referring IPs.

In practice

The strongest of the three diversity measures. Wide subnet spread is hard to fake cheaply.

What it won't tell you

Large hosts put thousands of unrelated sites on one subnet, so a low number is not proof of anything on its own.

Check Referring subnets in bulk

EDU and GOV links

majesticRefEdu / majesticRefGov count

Inbound links from .edu and .gov domains.

In practice

Nice to see, rarely decisive. A handful on a genuinely useful resource is normal.

What it won't tell you

Often forum profiles or comment links on university subdomains, which carry far less weight than the label suggests.

Check EDU and GOV links in bulk

Topical Trust Flow

majesticTTF0Name / Value category + 0-100

The three subject categories Majestic associates most strongly with the domain, each with its own trust score.

In practice

The most under-used field we return. It is the quickest way to spot a domain whose history does not match the niche you want it for.

What it won't tell you

A domain that has been repurposed keeps its old categories for a long time. That mismatch is a signal, not noise.

Read Topical Trust Flow categories · Check Topical Trust Flow in bulk

Majestic external links

majesticLinks count

Total external inbound links Majestic has recorded.

In practice

Divide by referring domains for links per domain. Anything above roughly fifty deserves an explanation.

What it won't tell you

Site-wide footer and sidebar links inflate this enormously without adding meaningful endorsement.

Check Majestic external links in bulk

Pretty

Ours

Built and operated by DomDetailer.

Our own crawl index. Where Moz and Majestic return scores, Pretty returns counts - and the individual links behind them, which is what lets you check the reasoning rather than trust the number.

Bear in mind. Pretty counts what our crawl has observed. Coverage is deep but not total, so treat a Pretty count as a firm lower bound rather than an exact total.

Links in

prettyLinksIn count

External inbound links from other registrable domains that our crawl has observed.

In practice

Use it as an independent check on the licensed figures. Three sources broadly agreeing is worth more than any one of them alone.

What it won't tell you

Our coverage is deep but not exhaustive, so read this as a lower bound.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

Links out

prettyLinksOut count

External outbound links from the domain to other registrable domains.

In practice

Compare against page count. Thousands of outbound links across a few hundred pages usually means a link farm or a hacked site.

What it won't tell you

Neither Moz nor Majestic expose outbound counts this directly, which is part of why we crawl.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

Pages crawled

prettyPageCount count

How many pages of the domain our crawl has seen.

In practice

A useful reality check on an expired domain: strong authority with a page count in single figures means the site is gone even if the metrics linger.

What it won't tell you

A low count can also mean the site blocks crawlers, so check before concluding it is dead.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

Dofollow inbound links

prettyLinksDofollow count

Inbound links without a nofollow attribute.

In practice

Divide by links in for the dofollow share. Natural profiles land broadly between 40% and 90%.

What it won't tell you

A profile that is almost entirely dofollow is as odd as one that is almost entirely nofollow.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

EDU and GOV inbound links

prettyLinksEdu / prettyLinksGov count

Inbound links from .edu and .gov domains, from our own crawl.

In practice

Cross-check against the Majestic equivalents. Large disagreement is worth investigating.

What it won't tell you

Same caveat as Majestic's: the domain extension says nothing about the placement.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

Referring domains (Pretty)

ref_domains count

Unique external domains linking in, returned by the backlinks endpoint.

In practice

Combined with the backlink rows, this is the only figure here you can audit yourself - the individual links are in the same response.

What it won't tell you

Returned by the backlinks endpoint, not the domain metrics endpoint.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

Nofollow ratio

nofollow_ratio 0-100%

The percentage of observed inbound links carrying a nofollow attribute.

In practice

Roughly 10-60% is unremarkable. Very low is as suspicious as very high.

What it won't tell you

Returned by the backlinks endpoint alongside the follow and nofollow counts it is derived from.

Inspect backlink rows and profile counts

Additional domain research

The same name across extensions.

The separate checkExtensions API request checks an exact name against registry snapshots across extensions. Its meta.taken records matches; meta.checked tells you how many requested extensions had data. Read both together: missing coverage must not be treated as a negative result.

The response summarizes taken, not_found and unknown counts, with optional TLD lists and a brief warning if older data is used. A name appearing across several extensions can add context to your research, but does not establish market value. Absence from a zone file does not prove that a domain is available to register.

Read the extension coverage reference and examples. Each successful request costs one credit total, including partial coverage.

Cross-checks

The comparisons that catch problems.

Use these comparisons to decide what to inspect next. They are screening clues, not proof of spam or a prediction of rankings. Crawl coverage, shared hosting and legitimate site-wide links can also explain unusual numbers.

Compare Useful comparison What to investigate
Trust Flow vs Citation Flow Compare the ratio with similar sites A low ratio can flag a gap between link influence and trust. Inspect sources before drawing a conclusion.
Referring domains vs referring subnets Compare the spread of networks Concentrated hosting can indicate related sites, but shared hosts and CDNs also group unrelated domains.
Links vs referring domains Inspect repeated source domains High counts can come from site-wide navigation, footer or sidebar links. Review their context and relevance.
Domain Authority vs Spam Score Check the score scale and underlying flags DomDetailer documents a legacy 0-17 mozSpam field. It is not the current Moz percentage; neither scale proves manipulation.
Authority vs pages crawled Compare metrics with current content Few crawled pages may reflect an expired site, a small site or restricted crawl access. Visit the site and inspect its history.
Topical Trust Flow vs the niche you want Categories match the subject A domain repurposed from another niche keeps its old topical signals for a long time.
Links out vs pages crawled Inspect the purpose of outbound links High counts can reflect a directory, site-wide links, spam or compromise. Review actual destinations and page content.

Our web tools calculate the derived ratios for you, so you can sort a list on TF/CF or dofollow share without exporting anything. Open the domain stats tool.

Common questions

Asked often.

More on the FAQ page, or see how the fields arrive in the API reference.

What is a good Trust Flow?

One at or above the sites ranking for your topic. Majestic publishes no universal pass mark, so check the top ten results for your target search in the bulk checker and use their median Trust Flow as your benchmark. Then inspect referring domains, link relevance and Topical Trust Flow: a higher score helps prioritise a shortlist, but it does not prove a domain is safe or will rank.

What is a good TF/CF ratio?

The closer to 1, the more Trust Flow keeps pace with Citation Flow. DomDetailer’s tools treat 0.5 or more as keeping pace and flag under 0.3 for inspection; that is our screening rule, not a Majestic threshold. A lower ratio prompts a closer look at link quality but does not prove spam. Leave the ratio undefined when Citation Flow is zero; small scores make it unstable.

Is Domain Authority or Trust Flow more reliable?

They describe different aspects of different link indexes. Domain Authority estimates relative ranking potential; Trust Flow models link trust. Use both to prioritise manual checks, alongside Spam Score, referring domains and real link examples. Neither is a Google ranking factor or a guarantee.

Why do Moz and Majestic disagree about link counts?

They run separate crawls with different coverage and count links differently - what one treats as one link another may count several times. Expect the totals to differ; the useful signal is whether both point the same way.

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