Adobe has announced that it will acquire Semrush in an all-cash deal worth $1.9 billion. Adobe will pay $12 per share, and both companies expect the deal to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and a shareholder vote. Semrush’s founders and major investors, who hold more than 75% voting power, have already agreed to support the deal.
This is one of Adobe’s biggest moves in recent years, and it directly targets the changing world of search, content, and brand visibility.
Semrush is one of the world’s most popular brand visibility and SEO platforms. Millions of marketers use it to track rankings, research keywords, spy on competitors, analyse backlinks, and understand how their brand performs across the web.
In the last few years, Semrush has also focused heavily on generative engine optimization (GEO). This helps brands understand how they appear in AI search results on platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other LLMs. With AI replacing traditional search for many users, this is becoming a crucial area for marketers.
Semrush has also seen strong enterprise growth, reporting 33% year-over-year ARR growth from big customers such as Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and TikTok.
Adobe already dominates content creation, analytics, digital experiences, and marketing automation. But one piece of the puzzle has always been brand discoverability. With this acquisition, Adobe wants to close that gap.
Search is changing fast. More people now rely on AI models for recommendations, product info, and decision-making. Adobe even shared data showing a 1,200% year-over-year rise in traffic from generative AI sources to US retail sites in October.
For Adobe, buying Semrush helps in multiple ways. It will strengthen its AI-first strategy. Adobe wants marketers to have a full view of how their brand appears across search engines and AI chatbots. Semrush already tracks most of this. Adobe will now integrate those insights into products like Adobe Analytics, AEM, and Adobe Brand Concierge.
Now that GEO is becoming essential, Adobe wants to lead this new category. Semrush brings a strong enterprise customer base and more than a decade of SEO data. It fits perfectly with Adobe’s large-scale marketing tools.
This acquisition could reshape both companies. Adobe usually targets big businesses. Semrush’s easy-to-use tools could evolve toward more enterprise-heavy features. Pricing changes are possible in the long run. We can also expect a complete “all-in-one visibility” suite from Adobe. This could show Google rankings, AI search visibility, Social reach, Website analytics, Brand mentions, and Competitor presence. Right now, GEO is a new concept. But with Adobe pushing it, agencies and brands might start treating it like they treat SEO.
This deal could spark more activity in the SEO and AI marketing industry. Other big tech companies may try to buy competing platforms to keep up.
