Adobe has announced the acquisition of Semrush Holdings for $1.9 billion (approximately €1.65 billion) in a transaction that represents much more than a simple merger of technology companies. This move is presented as a fundamental piece in the strategy Adobe has undertaken in recent years to become the definitive 360° platform for marketing, e-commerce, and digital experience. And, of course, Adobe expects it to provide a significant source of revenue. In fact, in its press release, Adobe explains that in the last quarter, Semrush increased its annual recurring revenue from its enterprise customer segment, which includes brands like Amazon and TikTok, by 33% year-over-year. SEO and, above all, GEO: The Missing Piece in Adobe's Puzzle Adobe, famous for its Creative Cloud design suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, InDesign) and its Digital Experience Cloud business suite (which includes products like Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe Commerce, formerly Magento), has been building an ecosystem to manage customer experience on a global scale. However, the growing trend of consumers turning to language models like ChatGPT and Gemini for information and purchase recommendations was creating a gap in brands' visibility strategies. This is where Semrush comes in. Semrush is not only a leading name in SEO tools, but it has also developed multiple solutions related to generative engine optimization (GEO). This approach is crucial, as traffic from generative AI sources to US retail sites increased by 1,200% year-over-year in October, according to Adobe Analytics data. Adobe seeks to integrate all these capabilities to ensure its customers remain relevant in this new landscape. Anil Chakravarthy, President of Adobe's Digital Experience Business, stated it clearly: “With Semrush, we are unlocking GEO for marketers as a new growth channel alongside their SEO, driving more visibility, customer engagement, and conversions across the ecosystem.” In the press release, Adobe explains that “With its GEO capabilities and more than ten years of SEO expertise, Semrush helps brands improve their visibility and expand their audience reach. Semrush solutions address an essential and growing need for marketers: staying visible in AI-powered searches. As marketers increasingly turn to their SEO teams and partners to power their marketing strategies with generative AI, Semrush offers powerful solutions to achieve brand visibility and relevance.” A Holistic View of the Digital Ecosystem The ultimate strategic goal is to create a comprehensive solution that gives marketing professionals a holistic understanding of how their brands appear across all touchpoints: owned channels, LLMs, traditional search, and the web in general. Thanks to this acquisition, a brand can use the Adobe platform to create content (Creative Cloud), manage and personalize it (Experience Manager), measure its performance (Analytics), and now, optimize its discoverability in traditional and AI search (Semrush). In fact, Semrush CEO Bill Wagner emphasized that the combination of both companies provides marketing professionals with “more insights and capabilities to increase their ability to be discovered across today’s digital landscape.” The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending the necessary regulatory approvals. Adobe's underlying message is clear: "Brand visibility is being transformed by generative AI, and brands that fail to take advantage of this new opportunity risk losing relevance and revenue."