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MCP Backlink Checker in Claude Desktop

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.

A link-valuation question is a browser-adjacent question, and this is the client people paste a URL into first: link_check answers it in one sentence with the anchor text quoted, and the whole verdict is a read that stores nothing on the machine.

What you get in Claude Desktop

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 Desktop

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

One click, with no JSON. Download backlink-checker.mcpb from the latest release and open it. Claude Desktop installs it as an extension and runs it on the Node runtime it ships with, so neither your PATH nor your node version comes into it, and there is no file to edit. Everything below is the manual route, for when you want the entry in the config file itself.

The config block, which needs both strings absolute:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlink-checker": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/backlink-checker/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

If node came from nvm, asdf or homebrew, use the absolute path that which node prints rather than the bare word, because a stdio server started by this app inherits a limited PATH:

"command": "/Users/you/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/node"

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:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlink-checker": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-backlink-checker"]
    }
  }
}

Save, then completely quit Claude Desktop and start it again. A window reload is not enough.

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.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlink-checker": {
      "url": "https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/backlink-checker",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop notes worth knowing first

Two documented facts decide whether the entry works: every path in claude_desktop_config.json must be absolute, and a stdio server started here inherits only a limited, platform-dependent subset of environment variables. If node came from nvm or homebrew, paste what `which node` prints instead of the bare word. The .mcpb route avoids both: Claude Desktop ships a built-in Node.js environment.

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

Where is claude_desktop_config.json?

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. There is no published Linux path. Settings, Developer, Edit Config opens the right copy and creates it if it does not exist.

I added it and MCP Backlink Checker does not appear.

In order: did you fully quit and restart, not just close the window? Is every path absolute? And is the command resolvable, given the limited environment a stdio server inherits here? If node came from nvm, paste what which node prints.

Can I install it without editing JSON?

Yes. An .mcpb bundle, the format renamed from .dxt, opens with Claude and shows an installation dialog. One you built yourself goes in through Settings, Extensions, Advanced settings, Install Extension.

Related

MCP Backlink Checker in detail · The same server in Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors and Claude Code · Every server in Claude Desktop · Guides · Claude Desktop docs · Buy Pro