Intent and Governance Signals — The 58 Signals Explained
What Are Intent and Governance Signals?
Intent and Governance signals are the 58 data points that map a business to buyer intent and declare its governance posture. Where Identity signals establish who the business is and Trust signals prove it can be relied upon, Intent signals answer a more precise question: for which buyer queries, which buyer types, and which geographies should this business be recommended?
Without Intent signals, AI systems perform generic category matching — they may find the business for broad queries but miss the specific, high-intent buyer queries where conversion probability is highest. Intent signals are the buyer matching layer that transforms general AI visibility into precise buyer-query alignment.
A business without Intent signals is like a skilled specialist with no appointment book. AI knows they exist. AI does not know who to send to them, when, or for what problem.
Intent vs Governance — Two Distinct Functions
Intent signals map services to buyer queries — who should find this business, for what reason, at what point in the buying journey, and in which geographic or sector context.
Governance signals declare the rules of engagement — what AI systems are permitted to do with the business's content, which signal tiers are accessible to which AI systems, and what compliance posture the business declares to AI governance evaluators.
The Six Intent and Governance Signal Groups
Group 1 — Service Category Mapping
9 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| intent.primary-service-category | Primary service category as defined in the canonical taxonomy — must match entity.category | Very High | intents.json |
| intent.secondary-service-categories | All secondary service categories the business operates in | High | intents.json |
| intent.service-to-intent-map | Explicit mapping of each service to the buyer queries that should trigger it | Very High | intents.json |
| intent.problem-to-service-map | Maps buyer problems to the services that solve them — enables problem-based query matching | High | intents.json |
| intent.primary-problem-solved | Primary problem the business solves — stated in buyer language, not company language | High | intents.json |
| intent.secondary-problems-solved | All secondary problems addressed across the service portfolio | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.delivery-format | How services are delivered — remote, on-site, hybrid, SaaS, consulting, software | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.engagement-model | How the business engages clients — project, retainer, subscription, one-off | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.primary-outcome | Primary measurable outcome delivered to clients — stated quantitatively where possible | High | intents.json |
Group 2 — Buyer Personas
9 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| intent.primary-buyer-persona | Primary buyer — role, sector, company size, and decision authority | Very High | intents.json |
| intent.secondary-buyer-personas | All secondary buyer types the business serves | High | intents.json |
| intent.buyer-role-filter | Specific job titles or roles of primary buyers — CFO, Head of IT, Operations Manager | High | intents.json |
| intent.company-size-filter | Target company size range — SME, Mid-market, Enterprise | High | intents.json |
| intent.sector-filter | Target sectors — enables sector-specific query matching | High | intents.json |
| intent.buyer-journey-stage | Buyer journey stages covered — awareness, consideration, decision | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.buying-trigger | Events that trigger a buying decision for this service category | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.decision-timeline | Typical decision timeline for the primary service | Low | intents.json |
| intent.budget-range | Budget range signal — enables matching to queries with budget context | Medium | intents.json |
Group 3 — Geographic and Language Filters
7 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| intent.primary-geography | Primary geographic market with explicit country or region declaration | Very High | intents.json |
| intent.secondary-geographies | All secondary geographic markets served | High | intents.json |
| intent.excluded-geographies | Explicit list of geographies where the business does NOT operate | High | intents.json |
| intent.primary-language | Primary service delivery language | High | intents.json |
| intent.secondary-languages | All secondary service delivery languages | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.currency-filter | Currencies accepted — enables matching for location-specific queries | Low | intents.json |
| intent.timezone-coverage | Timezone coverage for service delivery | Low | intents.json |
Group 4 — Negative Intents
7 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| intent.negative-queries | Explicit list of buyer queries the business should NOT appear for | Very High | intents.json |
| intent.negative-sectors | Sectors the business explicitly does not serve | High | intents.json |
| intent.negative-geographies | Geographies explicitly excluded from service delivery | High | intents.json |
| intent.negative-company-sizes | Company sizes the business does not serve — e.g. consumer, micro-business | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.negative-service-types | Service types explicitly outside scope — prevents AI from recommending for wrong services | High | intents.json |
| intent.competitor-disambiguation | Explicit disambiguation from named competitors with similar names or categories | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.not-a-service-declaration | Explicit declaration of capabilities the business does not offer to prevent misclassification | Medium | intents.json |
Group 5 — AI Permission and Access Control
12 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| gov.llms-txt-status | llms.txt present, accessible, and correctly structured at domain root | Very High | llms.txt |
| gov.ai-json-status | ai.json present, accessible, and schema-valid at domain root | Very High | ai.json |
| gov.intents-json-status | intents.json present, accessible, and correctly structured at domain root | High | intents.json |
| gov.ai-actions-json-status | ai-actions.json present — declares what AI systems are permitted to do | High | ai-actions.json |
| gov.ai-routes-json-status | ai-routes.json present — routes buyer intent to specific pages or contact methods | Medium | ai-routes.json |
| gov.allow-lane-matrix-status | allow-lane-matrix.json present — tiered access control for AI system signal access | Medium | allow-lane-matrix.json |
| gov.robots-txt-ai-permissions | robots.txt explicitly permits all major AI crawlers — GPTBot, anthropic-ai, Google-Extended | Very High | robots.txt |
| gov.crawler-gptbot | GPTBot explicitly permitted in robots.txt | High | robots.txt |
| gov.crawler-anthropic | anthropic-ai explicitly permitted in robots.txt | High | robots.txt |
| gov.crawler-google-extended | Google-Extended explicitly permitted in robots.txt | High | robots.txt |
| gov.crawler-perplexity | PerplexityBot explicitly permitted in robots.txt | High | robots.txt |
| gov.ai-content-usage | Explicit declaration of permitted AI content usage — training, retrieval, citation | Medium | llms.txt |
Group 6 — Pricing and Commercial Signals
7 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| intent.pricing-model | Pricing model — fixed fee, hourly, retainer, subscription, custom | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.pricing-range | Indicative price range — enables matching for budget-qualified queries | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.free-tier | Whether a free tier, trial, or entry-level offer exists | Medium | intents.json |
| intent.minimum-engagement | Minimum engagement size or commitment | Low | intents.json |
| intent.payment-methods | Accepted payment methods — relevant for geographic query matching | Low | intents.json |
| intent.contract-type | Contract type available — project contract, MSA, NDA, framework agreement | Low | intents.json |
| intent.procurement-compatibility | Compatibility with procurement frameworks — public sector, EU procurement | Medium | intents.json |
Group 7 — Governance Declarations
9 signals| Signal | Description | Weight | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| gov.eu-ai-act-readiness | EU AI Act readiness posture declaration — supports readiness, never certifies | High | governance.json |
| gov.hitl-declaration | Human-in-the-Loop governance protocol documented and machine-readable | High | governance.json |
| gov.gdpr-posture | GDPR compliance posture with legal basis references | Medium | governance.json |
| gov.data-residency | Data residency declaration — EU data only, specific country, global | Medium | governance.json |
| gov.ai-tool-usage | Declaration of AI tools used in business operations | Medium | governance.json |
| gov.epistemic-standard | Claims standards declaration — what the business will and will not assert | Medium | governance.json |
| gov.content-policy | Content policy declaration — editorial standards and authorship attribution | Low | policy.json |
| gov.terms-of-use | Terms of use URL — machine-readable reference | Low | governance.json |
| gov.privacy-policy | Privacy policy URL — must be consistent with GDPR declaration | Low | governance.json |
The intents.json Structure
intents.json is the primary file for Intent signals. It is deployed at the domain root and read by AI systems to perform buyer-query matching. A minimal valid intents.json includes:
Negative Intents — The Most Underdeployed Signal
Negative intents are the most commonly missing Intent signal. Businesses that deploy service-to-intent mappings but skip negative intents risk being recommended for queries where they cannot help — damaging the AI recommendation accuracy and, ultimately, buyer trust. A well-defined negative intent list is as valuable as a well-defined positive intent list. Both are built during the AI LENS™ knowledge acquisition phase.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Intent and Governance signals?
Intent and Governance signals are the 58 data points that map a business to buyer intent and declare its governance posture. They cover service-to-intent mappings, buyer personas, negative intents, AI crawler permissions, and all governance and compliance file statuses.
What is a negative intent signal?
A negative intent signal explicitly tells AI systems which buyer queries the business should NOT appear for. Without negative intents, AI systems may match a business to queries where it cannot help — damaging recommendation accuracy and buyer trust.
What is intents.json?
intents.json is the machine-readable buyer intent registry deployed at the domain root. It maps every service to the buyer queries that should trigger a recommendation, defines buyer personas, declares negative intents, and specifies geographic and sector filters.
Why do Intent signals matter for AI recommendation?
Without Intent signals, AI systems cannot match the business to the correct buyer queries. A business with no intent mapping will appear for generic queries at best — and miss the specific buyer intent queries where conversion probability is highest.
What is the allow-lane-matrix.json file?
allow-lane-matrix.json is the permission layer that specifies which AI systems have access to which signal tiers. It enables tiered access control — public signals available to all AI systems, gated signals available only to specific platforms.