What is intent data?

How does intent data work?

Intent data starts with behavior that nobody publishes. A few people at a company read articles about CRM migration, download a comparison guide, then come back twice to a vendor’s pricing page. The company never announced anything. The websites and content networks where the reading happened saw it, and they are the source of what gets sold.

A provider turns those visits into intent data in three steps.

1. AttributeVisits to a companyUsually by matching an IP address or cookies to an organization; the person stays anonymous
2. GroupContent into topicsSuch as "CRM software" or "data warehouse migration"
3. ScoreThe changeReading far above the usual level is flagged as a surge for the account

What comes out is a list of accounts and topics, each with a score and a date. It tells you that interest is rising. It does not tell you who is interested, why, or whether there is a budget.

What is the difference between first-party and third-party intent data?

First-party and third-party intent data differ in where the behavior was seen: on your own website and product (first-party), on a partner’s site that shares what it sees (second-party), or across a network of sites you do not own (third-party).

Type	Where the behavior is seen	Example
First-party intent data	Your own website, product and emails	Visitors from one company return to your pricing page three times in a week
Second-party intent data	A partner that shares what it sees on its own site	A review site reports that a company compared tools in your category
Third-party intent data	A network of publishers and sites you do not own	People at a company read about data warehouse migrations across many sites

First-party intent is the most specific, because it is about your product, but it only covers companies that have already found you. Third-party intent covers the whole market and sits further from a decision: reading about a topic is not the same as shopping for a vendor.

Intent data or observable signal: what is the difference?

Intent data is inferred. An observable signal is published. When a company posts a job that asks a new hire to run its migration from HubSpot to Salesforce, nobody has to guess: the project is written down, dated and signed with the company’s name. Buying signals of this kind come from job postings, funding announcements, leadership changes and new offices.

The counts above show how much of this sits in plain view. In the 30 days through October 28, 2026, 2,349 US job postings named Salesforce and the word migration in the same description. Read them as postings, not companies, and as mentions rather than confirmed projects.

	Intent data	Observable signal
What it records	Research: reading, searching, comparing	An action the company made public: a hire, a funding round, a new office
How it is tied to a company	Inferred from IP addresses or cookies	Published by the company under its own name
What you can check	A topic and a score	The posting or the announcement itself, with its date
What it suggests	Interest in a topic is rising	A project, a team or a budget exists

Which is which?

Six things you might learn about the same account. Which are intent data, and which are observable signals?

1. Several people there read articles about CRM migration this week

2. It posted a job for a Salesforce administrator to lead a migration from HubSpot

3. Visitors from its network came back to your pricing page three times

4. It announced a new office in Austin

5. A review site reports that it compared vendors in your category

6. Its open roles ask for Snowflake experience

Show the answers

1. Several people there read articles about CRM migration this weekIntent dataReading is research behavior, seen by content networks and tied to the company through its IP address; the company published nothing.
2. It posted a job for a Salesforce administrator to lead a migration from HubSpotObservable signalThe company wrote and dated the posting itself: anyone can open it and read the project.
3. Visitors from its network came back to your pricing page three timesIntent dataYour own website traffic is first-party intent: behavior matched to a company, not a public fact about it.
4. It announced a new office in AustinObservable signalA public announcement has a date and a source you can cite.
5. A review site reports that it compared vendors in your categoryIntent dataComparing vendors is research, reported by the site where it happened.
6. Its open roles ask for Snowflake experienceObservable signalRequirements in a job posting are written by the company, dated and countable across the market.

What are the limits of intent data?

Intent data shows rising interest, not a decision, and the way it is built leaves room for error. Treat it as a lead to check, not as a fact.

• Attribution is approximate. Remote work, VPNs and shared networks weaken the link between an IP address and an employer.
• Readers are not all buyers. Students, analysts, job seekers and competitors read the same articles.
• Scores are built differently. Each provider defines its own topics and thresholds, so two sources can disagree about the same account.
• Consent rules apply. Tracking that relies on cookies depends on what each visitor accepted, which varies by site and by country.

That is why teams pair it with firmographic data, to check that an account fits, and with technographic data and other observable signals, to check that something is actually happening.

How do you confirm intent data with public signals?

To confirm intent data with public signals, turn the topic into a search. If a score says an account is reading about CRM migration, look for the public trace of the project: postings that name the tools, the migration and the team being hired.

Jobs Search returns the postings that match a phrase, a title or a tool across the market, with a total count, as in the request above. Jobs Signal follows the postings of the accounts you already target, so you can see a new role at an account next to its intent score. The TAM guide shows how to rank accounts when several signals point the same way.