Saw a domain with DA 50+ for $20 and already felt your rankings rise? Stop and take a breath. In the PBN world, chasing pretty but not always objective numbers is the fastest way to burn your budget and get hit by Google filters. So if you’re here, chances are you’ve already outgrown the “buy everything with high DR” stage and are ready to dig deeper.
How DA, DR, TF, CF Work
At first glance, a domain with DA 40 or DR 50 seems perfect — many rely on numbers from Ahrefs or Moz as the ultimate quality indicators. But these metrics are relative: they’re easy to manipulate and don’t consider niche relevance, anchor quality, domain history, or backlink toxicity. So before diving into comparisons, let’s briefly recall what each metric means.
- DA (Domain Authority, Moz) — this is a domain’s authority score on a scale of 1 to 100. It’s based on the number of backlinks, their quality and the authority of referring sites, and overall link profile structure (anchor list, link distribution, etc.). DA used to be a standard, but today it’s easy to fake. Moz’s algorithm considers many factors but is less dynamic and more sensitive to manipulation, such as mass links from forum profiles or directories.
DA is a decent metric for quick, superficial evaluation, but it should never be the deciding factor.
- DR (Domain Rating, Ahrefs) — a score from 0 to 100 showing the strength of a domain’s backlink profile. In simple terms: the more high-DR sites link to you, the higher your DR. Ahrefs calculates it using a logarithmic scale — the higher the DR, the harder it is to grow.
DR reflects the overall “link weight” well, but ignores quality, trust, and link relevance.
- TF (Trust Flow, Majestic) — essentially the main “trust” metric, ranging from 0 to 100. To calculate it, Majestic built a list of the most trusted websites (scientific portals, government sites, respected media). TF measures how close your domain is to this “trust circle” through link chains. If a trusted, high-TF site links to you — your Trust Flow increases. Here, link quality outweighs quantity.
Trust Flow is the key indicator of link profile “cleanliness” and quality, critical for PBN safety.
- CF (Citation Flow, Majestic) — the “quantity” or “popularity” metric (0 to 100). It estimates influence based on total backlinks to the site. Quality doesn’t matter here — a thousand spammy links will raise CF just like one good one.
The metric alone means nothing. Its value is revealed only when paired with TF to assess spam.
If both metrics are high (e.g., TF 40 / CF 45), it’s a sign the domain sits in a strong trust environment — rare, but ideal for PBN.
DA or DR? Which Metric Is More Reliable for PBN Domain Analysis
A few years ago, link builders measured everything by DA. But today, among professionals, DR clearly has the upper hand. Why has the market confidently shifted away from DA? The answer lies in data and algorithms.
Ahrefs’ web crawler is one of the most powerful in the world — second only to Google. Its backlink database is significantly larger and updated much more frequently than Moz’s. That’s why DR is more current and accurately reflects the backlink profile.
However, that doesn’t mean DA should be completely written off — it’s still useful in several scenarios:
- Quickly sorting massive domain lists (e.g., thousands of drops) to filter out the weakest
- Reporting to clients who still rely on that metric out of habit
Verdict for PBN: DR is the main — but only the initial — filter for assessing domain “strength.” Start your search with it (e.g., set a DR 20+ threshold), but never make a purchase decision based on DR alone.If you’re just diving into this topic, we recommend starting with our advanced guide to PBN building for beginners. It explains step-by-step how to select domains and how Google filters work.
TF/CF — The Main Indicator of Domain “Health”
The Trust Flow to Citation Flow ratio is the best spam detector.
A healthy domain has balanced metrics, with TF not lagging too far behind CF. The ideal ratio is between 0.8 and 1.0 or higher. For example, a domain with TF 25 / CF 28 (≈0.9 ratio) is an excellent candidate and indicates a high-quality backlink profile.
On the other hand, a spammy domain has a massive gap where CF significantly outweighs TF. For instance, TF 10 / CF 40 (ratio 0.25) is a red flag. This profile is “screaming” that the domain was pumped with tons of low-quality links that inflated its popularity (CF) but failed to build trust (TF).
Building a PBN is always risky, so our job is to minimize those risks. And a high Trust Flow is the best immunity against Google filters. The search engine favors links from trusted sources, and the TF metric best simulates this “trust circle” principle. A domain with a high TF doesn’t just pass abstract weight — it transfers trust, which is far more valuable and safe.
Say you need to analyze two domains, both with DR 30. You check the first one in Majestic and see: TF 26, CF 30, ratio 0.87. Its backlinks are blog articles from relevant niches and a few local media mentions.
You check the second: TF 11, CF 42, ratio 0.26. A quick look reveals hundreds of comments on Indian blogs, links from Chinese forums, and web directories.
To a beginner, both domains look the same with DR 30. But to you, a professional, the choice is clear. The first is a valuable asset. The second is toxic and risky — and guaranteed to bring more problems than benefits.
Domain Analysis Workflow for PBN
Now let’s systematize the entire process. This domain analysis and selection workflow is a practical way to make decisions based on key data.
Step 1: Initial filtering by DR. Use Ahrefs (Expired Domains, Content Explorer) to find domains with a minimum DR (e.g., 15–20).
Step 2: Check in Majestic. Copy the list of selected domains into Majestic’s Bulk Backlink Checker:
- Trust filter: discard anything with TF below 10–15 (set your threshold based on niche and budget).
- Domain health filter: look at the TF/CF ratio. Anything below 0.7 needs closer inspection. Ideally, aim for ratios above 0.8.
Step 3: Analyze trends. Go back to Ahrefs/Majestic and check the Referring Domains chart over the past year. Look for red flags: sharp spikes (signal of automated link blasts) or drops (indicating anchor links were mass-removed, or the domain was filtered).
Step 4: Manual backlink review. A non-negotiable step. Open the top 10 strongest backlinks. If you see Chinese or Arabic sites, doorway pages, spammed blog comments, or forum signature links — the domain is better avoided, regardless of metrics.
Step 5 (optional): Check in Wayback Machine (or alternatives like Screenshots.com or DomCop). Make sure the site hasn’t hosted spam, gambling, adult, or pharma content. The domain history must be clean.
So, what really matters?
For the long-term safety and effectiveness of your PBN, Trust Flow (TF) and a healthy TF/CF ratio are far more important than DR — and especially than DA.
However, the ideal strategy is a smart combination, where each metric plays its role:
- DR — for initial assessment of domain “power”
- TF — for final evaluation of “quality” and “safety”
- DA/CF — as supporting metrics to complete the picture and catch anomalies
Don’t chase high but empty numbers — think like an investor looking for undervalued but reliable assets. That mindset is the key to building a stable PBN that lasts for years.
