M-Flux Site Checking Formula.
For Fast and Accurate, Backlink Opportunity Checks.
M-Flux (version 2) is our second iteration of our renowned backlink checking formula. We use it to build millions of pounds worth of links every year. We’ve also released a more affordable backlinks service called M-Flux Core for companies with lower budgets.
M-Flux Version 1 Delivered Great Results.
Version 2 is Taking them to the Next Level.
Why Choose M-Flux
for Link Selection Instead of Ahrefs DR or Moz DA?
Effortless
Site Assessment
If you’re sourcing high-quality sites for your link-building campaigns, you’ll know that vetting websites takes skill and time.
M-Flux
Evolves with SEO
Our original M-Flux formula launched in 2018 and has been refined to deliver even better site lists for link building.
M-Flux
Precision Targeting
The newly upgraded M-Flux assesses all significant factors, saving you time, money, and the guesswork of finding impactful links.
Relevant Link building remains essential for SEO, but not all links deliver the same impact.
While digital PR links help, achieving high rankings requires links from sites that are topically relevant and authoritative. Without them, holding onto your rankings can become a constant battle.
Our M-Flux formula quickly mitigates the risk of investing in ineffective links.
It’s been shown that using M-Flux for link-building yields stronger ranking impacts than relying solely on metrics like Domain Authority (DA).
Want to save money on link building in 2025?
Book a free call to discuss how M-Flux maximises your link budget.
What Makes M-Flux Version 2
Different from Version 1?
In 2024, major updates to Google’s ranking factors further confirmed that relying on a single metric for links is a massive oversimplification. For 2025 we've updated site authority and site traffic and included higher engagement metrics weightings to give more accurate site scoring.
01
We researched over 30,000 sites selected by our outreach team, and benchmarked these against the 2024 Google Leaks, to balance and upgrade our formula.
02
With M-Flux version 2, we’ve expanded our approach to measuring link quality. We have optimised our weightings and added more key metrics that Google is likely to value in a backlink.
Jason Brooks / Founder
"M-Flux Version 1 was a game changer for our clients, but 7 years is a long time in SEO and we know so much more about how sites are assessed by search engines. Since the Google leaks, and with even more client data we felt an update was due."
Jason Brooks / Founder
Why are Site Authority Scores Important?
Moz Domain Authority (DA) - Lowered.
Site authority assessment
The latest Google updates suggest that “SiteAuthority” is essential for SEO rankings, and DA remains a useful approximation for this metric.
On its own, DA can be susceptible to misuse and manipulation, and so our new formula has reduced the weighting, giving our link quality a more complete score.
DA
Why DA Matters:
“Using links to approximate the popularity of pages was a big part of the original Google algorithm, and whilst a lot has changed since, we can see this is still a vital component today. Not only does Google say so themselves and many SEOs confirm from experience, but we can also see the 2024 Google leaks littered with references to link-based features like “homepagePagerank” and “siteAuthority.”
Our goal is to show you as closely as possible how links to your site or sites might appear to search engines, and provide clear and trusted metrics with which to interpret this wealth of data.”
Tom Capper
Senior Search Scientist, MOZ
Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) – Increased.
Site authority assessment
To further strengthen our “siteAuthority” scores, we have increased the weight on Ahrefs DR in our formula, due to it’s more direct evaluation of link profile strength, over DA alone.
Its focus on link strength provides clues to Google PageRank and site authority metrics, working alongside our DA weightings, to provide a complete overall authority score.
DR
Why DR Matters:
Domain Rating (DR) focuses more strongly on the strength of a website’s backlink profile than DA. The inclusion of this metric in our formula strengthens our scores for “SiteAuthority” while also covering the “raw PageRank” and “HomePage PageRank” elements of the leak. This is key to gaining an accurate representation of overall website strength.
Incorporating DR into our “SiteAuthority” formula enhances our metric’s precision by capturing the actual strength of a website’s inbound links and factoring in Google’s original PageRank concept.
ahrefs
Knowledge-centre
Majestic Trust Flow – Increased.
Site trust assessment
Trust Flow evaluates how trustworthy a site is based on its proximity to reputable sites, known as “seed sites”.
The Google leaks and Google’s patents show that they use seed sites when calculating page rank. By handing Trust Flow an updated weighting, we make sure this important factor is reflected properly in our M-Flux V2 formula.
Why Trust Flow Matters
“Under the PageRank patent, ranking scores are given to pages based upon how far away they might be from seed sets and based upon other features of those pages.”
The Late Great Bill Slawski
Leading Google Patent Researcher
SEM Rush Estimated Traffic – Increased
Site quality assessment
Links from sites with traffic have a range of benefits including being more likely to be “High Quality”, as assessed by Google.
We know this by the inclusion of “sourceType” in the Google leaks, which gives websites a “High Quality”, “Medium Quality” and “Low Quality” score.
By using organic traffic in our formula, we ensure that websites that are more likely to score “High Quality” with Google will score higher M-Flux scores and penalise those that don’t.
Danny Andrews / Head of SEO
“Our updated M-Flux formula is tuned to measure engagement, relevance and site authority, allowing link builders quick access to a reliable, balanced site scoring system"
Danny Andrews / Head of SEO Strategy
Why is Organic Traffic Measurement Important?
Traffic suggests that a website is engaged
with via search engines and has a higher likelihood of being a “high quality” website. Both of these things matter for links, giving you an increased chance of referral traffic, and strong impactful linking pages.
Ahrefs Keywords in Top 20 Ratio – New!
Engagement assessment
Measuring the ratio of a site’s keywords being in the top 20 ensures the right websites score highly in our upgraded formula.
Engaged sites rank higher due to the Navboost element of the algorithm, which values clicks and engagement factors and is a core quality factor.
The Leaks also mention “totalClicks”, which is another clear nod to the importance of engagement.
The API leak further revealed that Google uses sophisticated topic modelling and relevance assessments, including “topicEmbeddingsVersionedData” and “webrefEntities“.
Websites that are relevant and engaged with are more likely to have a high ratio of keywords in the top 20 and are therefore better sites to have links from.
Why a Site's Keywords in the Top 20 Ratio Matters
Topical Alignment
A good ratio aligns closely with Google's focus on topical relevance and authority, boosting your content's visibility while strengthening its credibility.
Entity Recognition
The ratio helps us consider Google's entity recognition use in understanding content relevance; this helps us discover truly relevant link targets.
High-Engagement Links
Sites with high ratios can be considered to have strong engagement amongst audiences, meaning links from these pages carry higher weight with Google.
Is Mixing Up SEO
Metrics the Answer?
Yes, in our opinion a mixed metric approach is the way forward – but done the right way
We find that the best SEO’s use their own mix of metrics
such as Majestic TrustFlow/Citation Flow, Ahrefs Domain Rating and traffic scores for initial filtering. They then use other factors like location, relevance and U/X to narrow down the best opportunities which makes sense.
- We wanted to systemise this approach to asses sites quickly for our clients. We’ve found that using a mixed formula is better than scoring with just DA or DR because when each metric is weighted correctly it opens up the number of good opportunities, which lowers your costs.
- Additionally, if a tool has a major update like Moz had with DA, we can adjust the value of that metric easily to reflect the confidence we have in it. it’s the same with Google too; when we learn more about their algorithms, we can make informed adjustments.
How M-Flux Site Assessment
Saves Time and Money
Time Spent Wisely:
Our new formula offers a balanced evaluation allowing us to make smarter decisions and find more quality link-building opportunities. We quickly throw out useless sites and uncover opportunities other link assessment methods miss.
Bang for Your Buck:
Relying on a single metric like Moz DA could incur unnecessary costs, while a blended approach like M-Flux V2 increases viable link opportunities. Sites with strong engagement benefit from better M-Flux V2 scores than high DR or DA, which aligns with what search engines value.
Key Benefits of M-Flux V2
- Upgraded, comprehensive site assessment using multiple metrics (DA, DR, Trust Flow, Traffic and Keywords in top 20).
- Reduced dependency on high-DA or DR sites, avoiding common pitfalls.
- An updated 33-point human review for extra quality assurance.
- Offering link builders and buyers faster, more reliable site assessments.
- Facilitates the ability to find higher quality sites, quicker.
George Blandford / Co-owner
"If you're not using M-Flux, you're probably leaving valuable sites on the table and spending more cash on links than you need to"
George Blandford / Co-owner
Want to save money on
link building in 2025?
Book a free call to discuss how M-Flux maximises your link budget.
