Intent data
Intent data infers which companies are researching a product category, from signals such as content consumption across third-party publisher networks, search behaviour or review-site activity. It indicates that an account may be in market. It does not identify who is researching, or whether they have budget.
Where does it come from?
Three sources with very different reliability. Third-party publisher co-ops observe reading behaviour across networks of B2B sites and resolve it to a company. Review sites see comparison activity, which is the closest thing to a real purchase signal. First-party data from your own site is the most accurate and the smallest.
How accurate is it?
Directionally useful, individually unreliable. Company resolution depends on IP mapping that degrades with distributed work, and a surge often reflects one analyst's research project rather than a buying process. Treated as a prioritisation input it earns its cost; treated as a purchase signal it produces confident outreach to people who are not buying.
What should you do with a spike?
Raise the account's priority and look for a second, independent signal before acting. One signal is noise. Two signals from different sources is a pattern worth spending on. See signal-based ABM for how to build that discipline into a programme.
What it will not tell you
Who inside the account is looking, what stage they are at, or whether there is budget. Those remain sales questions, and intent data is frequently sold as though it has answered them.
