Adobe just announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Semrush Holdings, Inc., the widely used online visibility and SEO platform, in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $1.9 billion. The company says the acquisition positions Adobe to lead in a world where AI-powered search and generative engines (not just traditional search engines) shape how consumers discover brands.

According to Adobe, “brand visibility is top of mind” as consumers increasingly rely on large language models (LLMs) and AI chat platforms for information, recommendations, and purchasing decisions. Semrush, which Adobe describes as “a leading brand visibility platform” with strong capabilities in both SEO and the emerging field of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), is expected to enhance Adobe’s offerings across digital marketing and customer experience.

A Shift from SEO to GEO

The acquisition reflects a broader shift underway in digital discovery. As AI chatbots, agentic search systems, and conversational interfaces steadily reshape user behavior, companies are beginning to optimize their content not only for ranking in Google but also for visibility within AI-generated answers.

Semrush has been developing tools and data models specifically for GEO and “AI-SEO,” designed to help brands understand how and where they appear in generative search results provided by LLM-powered platforms.

Adobe cited a 1,200% year-over-year increase in traffic from generative-AI sources to U.S. retail websites in October, an early indicator of the scale of this transition.

Strengthening Adobe’s Digital Experience and AI Strategy

Adobe plans to integrate Semrush into its Digital Experience business, which includes Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Analytics, and its suite of AI-powered customer-engagement products. The company says Semrush’s data and optimization technologies will help brands manage the full lifecycle of digital presence, ranging from content creation to measurement, optimization, and customer engagement, across both traditional web channels and emerging AI-driven platforms.

“With consumers turning to AI assistants and chat interfaces to decide what to buy and who to trust, visibility in generative search is becoming as important as visibility in conventional search,” Adobe noted in its announcement.

Adobe Integration

The deal, which includes all outstanding shares of Semrush, is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Adobe expects the acquisition to close in the first half of 2026.

Once completed, Semrush’s capabilities will be brought into Adobe’s marketing and analytics platforms, giving Adobe a comprehensive data foundation for both SEO and the next wave of discovery: AEO (Agentic Engine Optimization) and GEO. Adobe says customers can expect new insights, tools, and data integrations that reflect the evolving nature of how people find products and brands online.

The acquisition marks one of Adobe’s biggest recent moves in the AI era and underscores a growing consensus across the tech industry: as LLMs and conversational engines become gatekeepers to information and commerce, the battle for brand visibility is shifting from search algorithms to the AI models that increasingly power consumer decision-making.

Final Thoughts

For the DevContentOps audience (software architects, digital directors, content operations leads, DevOps/AI engineers) this acquisition is more than a marketing move. It's a signal that the content lifecycle is evolving: from page design → publish → promote → measure, to content design → agent readiness → conversational consumption → visibility → conversion → continual optimization.

Your CMS and content-operations strategies must adapt accordingly: metadata must be richer, pipelines must include visibility/agent analytics, DevOps must extend to “content for AI agents”, and measurement must go beyond CTR and page rank into “agentic discovery” and AI-driven brand visibility.

In this new era, content isn’t only for human readers; it’s a feed for AI agents, conversational interfaces, chat ecosystems, and LLM responses. Your operations, tooling and strategy must reflect that shift. The Adobe-Semrush deal accelerates that transition.