Key Backlink Metrics

📊
DA (Moz)
0–100
🎯
DR (Ahrefs)
0–100
🛡️
TF (Majestic)
0–100
🔗
CF (Majestic)
0–100

Why Backlink Metrics Matter

Backlinks are the foundation of domain authority. When you buy an expired domain, you're buying its backlink profile. These metrics help you answer three critical questions:

  • How much authority does this domain have? (DA, DR, Authority Score)
  • Is the authority trustworthy or manipulated? (TF/CF ratio, referring domain quality)
  • What will Google think of this link profile? (Anchor text distribution, link neighborhood)

Critical principle: Metrics are signals, not guarantees. A DA 50 domain with toxic history is worthless. Always combine metric analysis with spam checking and historical review.

Domain Authority (DA) — Moz

Domain Authority is Moz's proprietary metric predicting how well a domain will rank in search results. It's calculated using 40+ factors, including linking root domains, total links, and MozRank.

DA Score Range

  • 0–10: Brand new or penalized domains
  • 10–20: Young domains with minimal backlinks
  • 20–30: Established domains with moderate authority
  • 30–50: Strong domains with quality backlinks
  • 50–70: Very authoritative domains (think mid-tier news sites)
  • 70–100: Elite domains (Wikipedia, NYTimes, government sites)

What's a good DA for expired domains? For money sites, aim for DA 25+. For 301 redirects, DA 20+ is acceptable. For PBNs, DA 15+ works if the backlink profile is clean.

How Moz Calculates DA

  • Linking root domains: How many unique domains link to you (most important factor)
  • Total backlinks: Raw link volume (less important than unique domains)
  • MozRank: Link equity passed through the link graph (similar to PageRank)
  • MozTrust: Proximity to trusted seed sites like .gov and .edu

DA Limitations

  • DA is relative — it compares your domain to all others in Moz's index
  • DA can be manipulated with low-quality links (inflate link count without real value)
  • DA doesn't account for spam signals — a DA 40 domain can be penalized
  • DA is not a Google metric — it's Moz's best guess, not Google's actual ranking factor

Domain Rating (DR) — Ahrefs

Domain Rating is Ahrefs' equivalent to DA. It measures the strength of a domain's backlink profile on a 0–100 scale.

DR Score Range

  • 0–10: Very weak or new domains
  • 10–20: Low authority, minimal backlinks
  • 20–40: Moderate authority, decent for expired domains
  • 40–60: High authority, competitive niches
  • 60–80: Very high authority (major publications)
  • 80–100: Elite tier (Amazon, Facebook, major news outlets)

What's a good DR for expired domains? For money sites, target DR 30+. For 301 redirects, DR 25+ is solid. For PBNs, DR 20+ works if the profile is natural.

How Ahrefs Calculates DR

  • Referring domains: Number of unique domains linking to you
  • DR of referring domains: Higher DR links contribute more to your DR
  • Dofollow links: Only dofollow links count toward DR
  • Link equity flow: How authority passes through the link graph

DR vs. DA: Key Differences

Domain Authority (Moz)

  • Considers both dofollow and nofollow links
  • Updates monthly
  • Smaller index than Ahrefs
  • More volatile (larger score swings)
  • Free tier available

Domain Rating (Ahrefs)

  • Only dofollow links count
  • Updates continuously (live data)
  • Largest backlink index (43+ trillion links)
  • More stable scores
  • No free tier (trial only)

Trust Flow (TF) and Citation Flow (CF) — Majestic

Majestic uses two complementary metrics: Trust Flow (TF) measures link quality, and Citation Flow (CF) measures link quantity. The relationship between them reveals manipulation.

Trust Flow (TF)

Trust Flow measures how trustworthy a domain is based on proximity to manually curated "seed" sites that Majestic considers authoritative (universities, government sites, major news outlets).

  • 0–10: Very low trust, likely spam or new site
  • 10–20: Low trust, questionable quality
  • 20–30: Moderate trust, acceptable for expired domains
  • 30–50: High trust, strong editorial links
  • 50–100: Extremely high trust (rare for expired domains)

Citation Flow (CF)

Citation Flow measures raw link equity without considering quality. It's similar to PageRank — more links = higher CF.

  • 0–10: Very few backlinks
  • 10–30: Moderate backlink volume
  • 30–50: High backlink volume
  • 50–100: Extremely high backlink volume

TF/CF Ratio: The Most Important Metric

The ratio between Trust Flow and Citation Flow reveals whether a domain's authority is natural or manipulated.

Healthy TF/CF Ratios

  • TF 25, CF 30: Ratio 0.83 — excellent
  • TF 35, CF 45: Ratio 0.78 — very good
  • TF 20, CF 28: Ratio 0.71 — acceptable
  • Rule of thumb: TF should be at least 50–70% of CF

Red Flag TF/CF Ratios

  • TF 10, CF 40: Ratio 0.25 — spam links
  • TF 15, CF 55: Ratio 0.27 — link scheme
  • TF 5, CF 30: Ratio 0.17 — toxic profile
  • Red flag: TF under 40% of CF = manipulated links

Critical rule: A domain with CF 50 but TF 10 has lots of low-quality links. This is a classic sign of black-hat link building. Avoid domains where TF is less than 50% of CF.

Authority Score (AS) — Semrush

Authority Score is Semrush's compound metric (0–100) combining backlink quality, organic traffic, and website quality signals.

AS Components

  • Backlink data: Referring domains, link quality, dofollow ratio
  • Organic traffic: Estimated search traffic volume
  • Website quality: User behavior signals, bounce rate, time on site

AS Interpretation

  • 0–10: Very low authority
  • 10–30: Low to moderate authority
  • 30–50: Good authority
  • 50–70: Strong authority
  • 70–100: Exceptional authority

Why use Authority Score? AS is useful because it considers organic traffic, which DA and DR ignore. A domain with DA 40 but zero organic traffic may be penalized. AS catches this.

How to Read Ahrefs Reports

Ahrefs Site Explorer is the gold standard for backlink analysis. Here's how to interpret the key sections:

Overview Dashboard

  • DR (Domain Rating): Overall domain authority (0–100)
  • UR (URL Rating): Authority of a specific URL (0–100)
  • Backlinks: Total number of backlinks (less important than referring domains)
  • Referring Domains: Unique domains linking to you (most important metric)
  • Organic Keywords: How many keywords the domain ranks for
  • Organic Traffic: Estimated monthly search traffic

Referring Domains Tab

  • Shows all unique domains linking to you
  • Sort by DR to see highest authority links first
  • Filter by Dofollow to exclude nofollow links
  • Check the Anchor Text column for manipulation signals
  • Click individual domains to audit their quality

Anchors Tab

  • Shows all anchor text used in backlinks
  • Look for CJK/Cyrillic text (red flag)
  • Check exact-match commercial anchors (over 15% is a red flag)
  • Verify brand/URL anchors dominate (should be 40–70%)

Backlinks Tab

  • Shows individual backlinks (every link, not just unique domains)
  • Filter by Dofollow and Live links only
  • Check for sitewide links (footer/sidebar spam)
  • Look at link context — are links editorial or spammy?

Ahrefs tip: Use the "Best by Links" report to see which pages attracted the most backlinks. This reveals whether the domain earned links naturally (content) or through manipulation (PBN posts).

How to Read Majestic Reports

Majestic specializes in Trust Flow and Citation Flow. Here's how to interpret the key sections:

Summary Dashboard

  • Trust Flow (TF): Link quality score (0–100)
  • Citation Flow (CF): Link quantity score (0–100)
  • Referring Domains: Unique domains linking to you
  • External Backlinks: Total backlinks
  • Referring IPs: Unique IP addresses (helps detect PBN footprints)
  • Referring Subnets: Unique C-class IP ranges (stronger PBN detection)

Topical Trust Flow

One of Majestic's unique features — shows which topics your backlinks are associated with.

  • Displays categories like "Business," "Health," "Technology"
  • Healthy domains have coherent topical clusters
  • Red flag: A photography blog with top topics in "Casino" and "Pharma"
  • Use this to verify topical relevance for your niche

Backlink Profile

  • Sort by Trust Flow to see highest quality links
  • Check Link Type — Text, Image, Redirect, Frame
  • Filter by Followed links only (ignore nofollow)
  • Review Anchor Text for spam patterns

Majestic tip: Use the "Clique Hunter" tool to find linking domains that also link to your competitors. This reveals natural link opportunities and industry-standard backlinks.

Referring Domain Quality Ratios

Raw metric scores (DA, DR, TF, CF) tell only part of the story. Use these ratios to assess link profile health:

Dofollow vs. Nofollow Ratio

  • Healthy: 60–80% dofollow, 20–40% nofollow
  • Red flag: Over 90% dofollow (unnatural — real sites get nofollow links too)
  • Red flag: Under 40% dofollow (weak link profile, little SEO value)

Referring Domains per Backlink

  • Healthy: 1 referring domain per 5–15 backlinks (some sites link multiple times)
  • Red flag: 1 referring domain per 50+ backlinks (sitewide link spam)

DR/DA of Referring Domains

  • Healthy: 50%+ referring domains with DR/DA 10+
  • Red flag: 70%+ referring domains with DR/DA under 5 (low-quality link sources)

Link Velocity (New vs. Lost Links)

  • Healthy: Gradual link growth, balanced new/lost ratio
  • Red flag: Sudden spikes (bought links, PBN posts)
  • Red flag: Mass link loss (Google devalued or removed links)

Anchor Text Distribution Benchmarks

Anchor text reveals intent. Natural links have diverse, non-commercial anchors. Manipulated links show over-optimization.

Healthy Anchor Text Distribution

  • Brand/URL anchors: 40–70% (domain name, brand name, naked URL)
  • Generic anchors: 20–40% ("click here," "visit site," "read more")
  • Partial-match anchors: 10–20% (keyword + brand, e.g., "Acme photography blog")
  • Exact-match commercial: Under 10% ("buy insurance," "cheap loans")
  • Image anchors: 5–15% (linked images with alt text)

Red Flag Anchor Patterns

  • Over 15% exact-match commercial: Indicates black-hat link building
  • Over 10% CJK/Cyrillic: Link farm involvement
  • Under 30% brand/URL anchors: Unnatural profile (real sites get branded links)
  • Keyword stuffing: Anchors like "best SEO services | affordable SEO | top SEO company"

Instant disqualifier: If over 20% of anchor text is in CJK or Cyrillic characters, the domain was used in international link schemes. Skip it.

Red Flags in Link Profiles

Watch for these patterns that indicate manipulation or penalties:

  • Sitewide links: Same referring domain links from every page (footer/sidebar spam)
  • Link farms: Referring domains that link to 500+ unrelated sites
  • PBN footprints: Referring domains on same IP ranges, same hosting, same WHOIS privacy
  • Comment spam: High proportion of links from blog comment sections
  • Forum spam: Links from forum signatures or low-quality forum posts
  • Directory spam: Links from low-quality directories (not DMOZ or industry directories)
  • Article marketing: Links from EzineArticles, HubPages, or similar thin-content platforms
  • Press release spam: Mass press release distribution with exact-match anchors

Ideal Metrics by Use Case

Your metric targets should vary based on how you plan to use the domain:

Money Site (Strictest)

  • DA: 25+ / DR: 30+
  • TF/CF ratio: 0.6+ (TF at least 60% of CF)
  • Referring domains: 50+
  • Clean anchor distribution
  • Topically relevant backlinks

301 Redirect (Moderate)

  • DA: 20+ / DR: 25+
  • TF/CF ratio: 0.5+ (TF at least 50% of CF)
  • Referring domains: 30+
  • Topical relevance preferred
  • Some spam tolerable (under 20% of links)

PBN (High Risk)

  • DA: 15+ / DR: 20+
  • TF/CF ratio: 0.5+
  • Referring domains: 20+
  • Diverse IP/hosting (no footprints)
  • Focus on link diversity over metrics

Flipping/Resale

  • DA: 30+ / DR: 35+
  • TF/CF ratio: 0.7+ (buyers scrutinize this)
  • Referring domains: 50+
  • Brandable name required
  • Zero spam history (buyers will check)

Comparison Table: DA vs. DR vs. TF/CF vs. AS

Metric Provider Strength Weakness
DA Moz Free tier, industry standard Smaller index, volatile scores
DR Ahrefs Largest index, live data No free tier, dofollow-only
TF/CF Majestic Best spam detector (TF/CF ratio) Less intuitive, smaller user base
AS Semrush Includes traffic/behavior signals Compound metric, less transparent

Common Mistakes in Backlink Analysis

  • Focusing on DA/DR alone: A DA 50 domain with spam history is worthless
  • Ignoring TF/CF ratio: This is the best manipulation detector — use it
  • Not checking anchor text: CJK/Cyrillic anchors are instant red flags
  • Trusting total backlink count: 10,000 spam links are worse than 10 quality links
  • Skipping referring domain quality checks: Click through 10–15 referrers manually
  • Not comparing metrics across tools: Cross-reference DA, DR, and TF/CF for full picture

Next Steps

Now that you understand backlink metrics, learn the other vetting components: