About

We built CitationDesk because we needed it ourselves.

CitationDesk is the productized version of a citation-tracking system we've been running internally across our fleet of ~30 niche publishing sites since 2025. We needed to know when ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini started citing a page — because AI-search inbound traffic now converts 4× organic SERP-position-3 traffic, and we couldn't afford to find out months later via Search Console anomalies.

The operator

Hi, I'm Paulo de Vries. I run a fleet of static-reference + programmatic-SEO sites — HoldLens (superinvestor portfolio tracking), Read Stacks (non-fiction book summaries), FermentCalc, ColorCombinations, ZipRadar, and others. Most of these compound on organic search + AI citation; some monetize via affiliate, some via subscription. Across the fleet, I've shipped 100+ versions of an internal autonomy framework (AcePilot) that handles SEO, GEO, and AdSense compliance unattended.

CitationDesk is the first piece of fleet-internal tooling I've productized for outside use. I'm shipping it because the "AI citation" problem isn't solved by any of the existing tools at a price point that makes sense for solo operators, small publishers, or content marketers. The ones I evaluated started at $200-1,000/mo. That doesn't work for the 90% of operators who would benefit most.

I'm based in the Netherlands. I write code, I write content, and I deploy infrastructure with my own hands. There is no marketing team, no growth hacker, and no investor pressure to hit a Series-A growth curve. CitationDesk is built to be useful first, profitable second, and never extractive.

What we believe

• AI citation is the new SEO. The web is bifurcating: humans who search Google, and humans who ask ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity / Gemini. Both routes lead to your content — if it's discoverable. Most operators optimize for Google. We help you optimize for both.
• Transparency over opacity. When CitationDesk says "you're cited", we show you which model, which query, which paragraph, what timestamp. No black-box AI scores. No mystery dashboards.
• Plain English over jargon. A solo content creator on Substack should be able to read our dashboard and act on it. CRO/SEO acronyms get translated.
• The Free tier is real. Most SaaS "free tiers" are limited demos. Ours is 60 LLM citation checks per month — enough to genuinely benefit solo creators forever. Upgrade because you outgrow it, not because you were rate-limited into corner.
• No display ads. No dark patterns. No price-hike surprises. CitationDesk monetizes by being good at its job. If we can't earn your €49/mo on the merits, we shouldn't exist.

Where to find me

• Email: [email protected] (or use the contact form on /contact)
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulodevries
• GitHub: @pmdevries-rgb