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MCP Backlink Checker in Claude Code

Check backlinks from a chat: does a page link to your domain, dofollow or nofollow, anchor text and robots guards. You give it referring page URLs and a target domain. link_check fetches one page and reports whether it links to the domain, dofollow or nofollow, the anchor text, HTTP status and page-level robots guards (meta robots and X-Robots-Tag noindex/nofollow). link_audit runs the same check across a list of URLs and returns one table row per link found. robots_guard_check reports just the robots signals on a URL without extracting links. The server makes one outbound GET per URL and stores nothing.

You are already in the terminal where the outreach list lives: cat the CSV of prospect URLs into the sentence, name the target domain, and the audit table comes back in the same reply you would have pasted it into.

What you get in Claude Code

You say	Tool
Check whether https://example.com/blog/roundup links to mydomain.com and if it is dofollow.	`link_check`
Audit these 20 guest-post pages against mydomain.com.	`link_audit`
Is that link page even indexable, or is it noindexed?	`robots_guard_check`

The suite is 8 tests, 8 passing, 0 failing (node --test), covering link extraction and classification, rel-splitting, page-level robots guards and the Pro gate on batch size. The smoke and license-gate tests sit alongside it.

Install it in Claude Code

The file is .mcp.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

Scope	Path
local (default)	`~/.claude.json, this project only`
project	`.mcp.json at the repository root`
user	`~/.claude.json, every project`

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: backlink-checker.mcpb from the latest release opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. Claude Code reads its own config, so here it is:

From the terminal, against a built file:

claude mcp add --scope user backlink-checker -- node /absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/backlink-checker/dist/index.js
claude mcp list    # health-check it before the first prompt

# or --scope project, committed to .mcp.json for the team

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/backlink-checker

That writes servers/backlink-checker/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

claude mcp add backlink-checker -- npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-backlink-checker

No restart. The entry is picked up in the next session, and `/mcp` reconnects one on demand.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

The same server runs at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/backlink-checker over MCP streamable HTTP, no install. Mint a free token with curl https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/token, or use a Pro key. It has no filesystem, so a file comes back as a one-hour download link.

claude mcp add --transport http backlink-checker https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/backlink-checker \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Claude Code notes worth knowing first

The `--` is load-bearing: it separates Claude Code's own options, such as --transport, --env and --scope, from the command that runs the server. And the default scope is local, private to you and to the directory you ran it in, so adding it in the wrong folder leaves the tools absent with no error at all.

Free: link_check and robots_guard_check are free and unlimited; link_audit covers up to 3 URLs per call on the free tier. Reads are free on every tier. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Which scope should I use for MCP Backlink Checker?

Local, the default, writes ~/.claude.json and is private to you and that directory. --scope project writes .mcp.json at the repository root, shared through version control. --scope user loads it everywhere.

Why did my first prompt ignore the server?

Measured, not documented: of three fresh projects, one first prompt made zero tool calls although initialize answered in 1.05 seconds. Run claude mcp list once first: it prints Connected, and the next run used the tool.

Can I use MCP Backlink Checker without installing anything?

Yes: claude mcp add --transport http backlink-checker https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/backlink-checker --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>". Mint a free token at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/token or use a Pro key. -t and -H are the short forms.

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