Adobe buys Semrush for $1.9 billion to become GEO-ready
It’s a deal unfolding against the backdrop of AI search engines advancing: Adobe is buying Semrush. The software giant, famous for Photoshop, is paying $12 per share in cash—putting roughly $1.9 billion on the table. The transaction has strategic intent: with this acquisition, Adobe is positioning itself for the era of agentic AI and wants to help brands remain visible in Large Language Models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
Semrush brings over a decade of SEO expertise and capabilities in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—a growing business field that helps brands stay discoverable in AI-powered search. The boards of both companies have approved the acquisition; closing is expected in the first half of 2026.
GEO becomes a new growth channel alongside SEO
Brand visibility is currently shifting significantly toward generative AI platforms. Anil Chakravarthy, President of Adobe’s Digital Experience Business, says: “Brand visibility is being reshaped by generative AI, and brands that don’t seize this new opportunity risk losing relevance and revenue. With Semrush, we’re unlocking GEO for marketers as a new growth channel alongside SEO, driving greater visibility, customer engagement, and conversions across the entire ecosystem.”
Adobe Analytics found that traffic from generative AI sources to US retail sites jumped 1,200 percent year-over-year in October. Consumers are increasingly using LLMs for information, recommendations, and purchasing decisions.
Semrush’s platform addresses exactly this shift. The company posted 33 percent Annual Recurring Revenue growth in its enterprise segment last quarter and works with customers including Amazon, JPMorganChase, and TikTok.
Bill Wagner, CEO of Semrush, sees clear value in the combination with Adobe: “Adobe is an industry leader in helping marketers create personalized customer experiences at scale. With the rise of LLMs and AI-driven search, brands need to understand where and how their customers interact in these new channels. This combination gives marketers deeper insights and capabilities to increase their discoverability in the evolving digital landscape.”
Comprehensive solution for customer experience
Adobe already orchestrates customer experience for 99 percent of the Fortune 100, including The Coca-Cola Company, General Motors, and IBM. With products like Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Adobe Analytics, and the newly launched Adobe Brand Concierge, the company addresses core pain points for brands in the agentic AI era. Together with Semrush, a comprehensive solution emerges that gives marketers a holistic understanding of how their brands appear across owned channels, LLMs, traditional search engines, and the broader web. The combination of content supply chain, customer engagement, and brand visibility covers the full spectrum.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and Semrush shareholder consent. Adobe has already secured commitments from Semrush founders and other shareholders representing over 75 percent of voting rights who will vote in favor of the acquisition. Centerview Partners serves as financial advisor to Semrush; Davis Polk & Wardwell as legal counsel. Adobe is being advised by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
The deal underscores how profoundly generative AI is reshaping the marketing landscape. While SEO teams historically focused primarily on Google rankings, they must now understand how LLMs aggregate and present information. Semrush delivers data-driven GEO and SEO solutions that help brands be represented, discovered, and trusted in both worlds—traditional search and AI interfaces. For Adobe, the acquisition is a strategic move to solidify its position in customer experience orchestration and offer clients an end-to-end solution for brand visibility in the AI age.
