SEO work is shifting into agents. Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and other MCP clients can already research, draft, and ship — but they still need structured link data they can call as tools, not a dashboard to scrape. BacklinkMCP is that missing layer: a free remote MCP server for SEO that exposes backlink and authority lookups as first-class tools, with a paid Pro tier when you outgrow the daily free cap.
What MCP is for SEO agents
MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets an AI client discover and invoke tools over a standard JSON-RPC interface. Instead of writing custom HTTP glue for every agent, you add one remote URL. The client lists the tools, the model decides when to call them, and results come back as structured JSON the agent can reason over in plain language.
For SEO, that means an agent can answer “who links to this competitor?”, “is this guest-post domain worth pitching?”, or “which of my linkers look spammy?” without opening Ahrefs, Moz, or a browser tab. If you’re choosing between tool-calling and raw HTTP, see MCP vs REST API for SEO data.
Install in one URL
BacklinkMCP is a remote MCP server at https://backlinkmcp.com/api/mcp — no local install, no binary. Point Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor at that URL and the tools appear. Step-by-step client configs are on the docs page (MCP install section). For Pro, append ?key=YOUR_KEY to the same URL.
https://backlinkmcp.com/api/mcp
claude mcp add --transport http backlinkmcp https://backlinkmcp.com/api/mcp
MCP tools for SEO
Eight tools — three read the link index, one fetches the live web, three run link-building analysis, and one (Pro) runs an AI-visibility panel. Full schemas are on /docs.
domain_authority_score— 0–100 style authority score plus referring-domain count for any domain in the index.top_linkers_for_domain— highest-authority domains linking in (25 rows on Free and Pro).backlinks_for_domain— ranked linker list (25 rows Free / 100 rows Pro) with per-linker authority and outbound counts.verify_link_live— fetches a linking domain’s homepage in real time to confirm the link still exists today.find_link_prospects— competitor backlink-gap: domains that link a competitor but not you.flag_toxic_links— heuristic spam candidates on the high-authority linker slice returned by the index (review list, not auto-disavow).common_linkers— intersect two or more domains to find who links the whole set.ai_visibility_report— Pro tool: multi-LLM “best of category” panel with share-of-voice and link-informed next targets.
Authority and backlink tools query our proprietary web-scale link index with editorial-authority weighting — links from high-trust domains count more than low-quality bulk referrers, aligned with how Google’s spam policies treat link schemes. This is not a continuous live crawler. Index data is point-in-time; use verify_link_live when you need freshness on a specific link.
Free tier vs Pro
- Free — $0, no signup required: 10 lookups/day, up to 25 rows on
backlinks_for_domain. - Pro — $19/month: unlimited daily lookups, up to 100 rows per
backlinks_for_domaincall, plusai_visibility_report.
Both tiers share the same tool shapes and index. Pro lifts caps; it does not invent different fields. Details on pricing.
Try the same data in the browser
The box below hits the live REST twins of the core MCP tools — /api/v1/authority and /api/v1/backlinks — so you can see real index results without configuring an agent first.
Related pages
- Docs — install, tool schemas, REST shapes, auth, rate limits
- Pricing — Free vs Pro caps
- MCP vs REST API — when to use which
- Ahrefs MCP alternative — free remote MCP vs plan-gated Ahrefs MCP
- Free backlink checker — browser + REST entry point
- Ahrefs alternative — general agent/API comparison
Frequently asked questions
Is the MCP server free?
Yes. Free tier: 10 lookups per day (per IP or free key), up to 25 rows on backlinks_for_domain. Pro is $19/month for unlimited daily lookups and up to 100 rows. No signup required to try free.
Does BacklinkMCP crawl the web live on every request?
No. Authority and backlink tools read a proprietary web-scale link index. For the current status of one specific link, verify_link_live fetches that page live.
How do I install it in Claude or Cursor?
Add https://backlinkmcp.com/api/mcp to your client’s MCP config. Full steps are on the docs page.
What SEO tools does the MCP server expose?
Eight tools: domain_authority_score, top_linkers_for_domain, backlinks_for_domain, verify_link_live, find_link_prospects, flag_toxic_links, common_linkers, and ai_visibility_report (Pro).