---
title: How an Entity is Identified
description: Learn how entities are identified in Demand Intelligence, which accounts and URLs qualify as valid identifiers, and how to request updates when entity data is incorrect or incomplete.
---
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# How an Entity is Identified
## Learn how entities are identified in Demand Intelligence, which accounts and URLs qualify as valid identifiers, and how to request updates when entity data is incorrect or incomplete.
### **Overview**
Every entity in Demand Intelligence is built from the same set of identifiers, and every identifier follows the same tracking rules, official accounts only, root domains only. This article explains what those identifiers are, what does and doesn't qualify, and what to do when an entity's data looks wrong or incomplete.
### **What identifies an entity**
Each entity in Demand Intelligence is built from a set of identifiers that connect it to its presence across the supported channels. These identifiers include:
- **Name.** The canonical name of the entity (e.g., "Nike"). This is also what's tracked on search: Demand measures how often the entity's own name has been searched on Google and YouTube, without any additional keyword next to it.
- **Handles per channel.** The entity's official accounts on each supported channel — @nike on Instagram, @nike on TikTok, the Nike YouTube channel, @nike on X.
- **Website URL.** The entity's main web property (e.g., nike.com), used to track web-based demand signals.
By combining all of these into a single profile, Demand can aggregate cross-channel signals into one entity row in a Demand Report. That's what makes side-by-side comparisons across very different entities possible.
### **What counts as a valid identifier**
Not every account or URL that mentions an entity qualifies to be tracked. Demand follows a consistent set of rules so that what you see in a report is always the entity's own official presence, not fan activity or noise:
- **Official accounts only.** Demand tracks the entity's own verified or clearly official account on each channel — not fan pages, parody accounts, or unofficial community accounts, even large ones.
- **Root domains only.** The URL identifier has to be a root domain (nike.com), not a subdomain (shop.nike.com) or a subfolder (nike.com/running).
- **Local accounts, one entity.** Where a brand runs several country-specific accounts on the same channel (Amazon Prime Video is a good example), Demand aggregates them all into the same entity profile rather than splitting them out. If you need to analyse local presences as individual entities instead, that's a request you can make — see When an entity's data looks wrong or incomplete below.
### **When an entity's data looks wrong or incomplete**
If you spot a handle that shouldn't be there, a channel that should be populated but isn't, or an entity that bundles accounts together when you need them tracked separately, don't work around it locally — request the change instead:
- **Open Request Entity Update.** Hover the entity in the search suggestions (while building a Demand Report) and click the pencil icon.
- **Tell us what to look at.** Tick the field or fields affected, Entity Name, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, URL, add a comment describing what's wrong, or both.
- **Send it.** You'll see a confirmation straight away, and an email once the request has been reviewed, usually within a working day.
**The email tells you one of two things:** the update has been made, or it couldn't be made because the change falls outside the rules above (most commonly: not an official account, or not a root domain). If you think that call was wrong, the rejection email includes a way to get back in touch.
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