Adobe buys Semrush for $1.9 billion

Adobe said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire the search engine optimization company Smersh For about $1.9 billion in cash, the Photoshop maker seeks to increase its range of marketing offerings.

In Adobe’s statement He said It will offer $12 per share for Semrush, nearly double its last closing price of $6.89 on Tuesday, before news of the deal. Semrush’s market cap was about $1 billion as of Tuesday’s close.

By acquiring Semrush, Adobe is betting that companies will choose to invest in improving their content and web pages to be more visible to AI tools, as people increasingly use chatbots, agents and AI browsers to do everything from getting news and finding recipes to shopping and booking their travel. This is a big new market for existing SEO players like Semrush, especially as this change in consumer behavior drives increased traffic to websites from generative AI tools.

In fact, as of October, traffic to retail sites from AI-generated chatbots increased 1,200% compared to the previous year, according to Adobe Analytics Data.

Semrush has invested in what it calls “generative engine optimization,” and recently launched a tool to track and optimize website performance using both traditional SEO and AI engine optimization techniques, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Grok, and Perplexity.

“Brand visibility is being reshaped by generative AI, and brands that don’t embrace this new opportunity risk losing relevance and revenue,” said Anil Chakravarthy, head of Adobe’s digital experience business. “With Semrush, we are opening up GEO to marketers as a new growth channel alongside their SEO, driving greater visibility, customer engagement and conversions across the ecosystem.”