Semrush utilized its prominent platform at the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas to debut the Brand Visibility Framework, a sophisticated strategic model designed to quantify and manage brand presence across the rapidly evolving landscape of traditional search engines, AI-generated responses, and autonomous AI agents. At the heart of this launch is the introduction of Agentic Search Optimisation (ASO), a new operational discipline necessitated by a digital environment where artificial intelligence increasingly acts as an intermediary between brands and consumers. This framework is underpinned by a massive proprietary database of more than 213 million large language model (LLM) prompts, providing an unprecedented look into how brands are discussed, recommended, or entirely omitted within systems that bypass traditional link-based browsing.
The unveiling of this framework comes at a pivotal moment for Semrush, as the company navigates a $1.9 billion acquisition by Adobe. The deal, which was announced in November 2025 and is expected to reach completion in the first half of 2026, positions Semrush as the essential "visibility layer" within Adobe’s extensive marketing technology stack. As generative AI fundamentally rewrites the rules of online discovery, the integration of Semrush’s data-driven insights into Adobe’s content creation and delivery tools represents a strategic move to secure brand relevance in an era where the traditional organic click is becoming a rare commodity.
The Crisis of the Organic Click
The data driving the development of the Brand Visibility Framework highlights a stark reality for digital marketers. For over two decades, the industry has relied on the predictable mechanics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive traffic. However, recent trends suggest those mechanics are failing. According to research from Seer Interactive, organic click-through rates (CTR) have plummeted by 61% for search queries where Google’s AI Overviews are present. This decline is not an isolated incident but part of a broader structural shift in user behavior.
In February 2024, Gartner issued a forecast predicting that traditional search engine volume would drop by 25% by 2026, driven by the rise of AI chatbots and virtual agents. Current metrics suggest this prediction is largely on track. Google’s AI Overviews now appear in 48% of all tracked search queries—a 58% increase year-over-year—and dominate 80% to 88% of informational queries depending on the specific industry. This shift toward "zero-click" searches, where users receive their answers directly on the search results page without ever visiting a third-party website, has seen an increase from 56% to 69% of all queries between May 2024 and May 2025.
The commercial impact of this shift is profound. While traditional search still exists, the traffic that does arrive via AI-mediated search engines like ChatGPT Search or Perplexity converts at a significantly higher rate of 14.2%, compared to just 2.8% for traditional Google search. However, the volume of this traffic is drastically lower, and brands currently find themselves with almost no control over whether an AI system chooses to mention them at all.
Understanding Agentic Search Optimisation
To address this loss of control, Semrush’s framework introduces Agentic Search Optimisation (ASO). The company defines brand visibility in this new era as "the degree to which a brand is discoverable, authoritatively represented, and commercially actionable across both human- and machine-mediated discovery surfaces."
ASO represents a departure from traditional SEO in several fundamental ways. While SEO was designed for a world where humans scanned a list of links and made a choice, ASO is designed for a world where an AI agent—acting on behalf of the user—evaluates brand relevance and authority to provide a single, synthesized recommendation. AI systems do not "rank" pages in the traditional sense; they synthesize answers based on training data, real-time information retrieval, and internal reasoning.
The factors that determine whether a brand is included in this synthesis are often disconnected from traditional ranking signals. Semrush’s research indicates a startling gap: only 8% to 12% overlap exists between results that appear in AI-generated answers and those that rank well in traditional search. Crucially, ChatGPT Search has been observed primarily citing pages that rank 21st or lower on Google. This suggests that the entire edifice of search engine optimization, which Semrush helped build, does not reliably translate into visibility in the AI-driven systems that are replacing traditional search.
A Chronology of Strategic Transformation
The launch of the Brand Visibility Framework is the culmination of a multi-year strategic pivot for Semrush. Understanding the timeline of these events provides context for the company’s current trajectory:
- February 2024: Gartner predicts a 25% decline in traditional search volume by 2026, signaling the beginning of the AI search era.
- March 2025: Bill Wagner assumes the role of CEO, with co-founder Oleg Shchegolev transitioning to Chief Technology Officer to focus on product innovation.
- May 2025: Data reveals that zero-click searches have reached 69% of all queries. ChatGPT reports 800 million weekly active users, and Perplexity processes 780 million queries in a single month.
- October 2025: Semrush launches the AI Visibility Index, a tool designed to track brand mentions and share of voice across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, and Gemini.
- November 2025: Adobe announces its intent to acquire Semrush for $1.9 billion in an all-cash deal at $12 per share.
- March 2026: Semrush completes a comprehensive brand identity refresh and receives unconditional clearance from German competition authorities for the Adobe merger.
- Current (Adobe Summit): Semrush launches the Brand Visibility Framework and formally introduces Agentic Search Optimisation as a necessary marketing discipline.
Financial Performance and Market Validation
Semrush’s financial results reflect the market’s appetite for AI-specific solutions. The company reported $443.6 million in revenue for fiscal 2025, marking an 18% increase year-over-year. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) reached $471.4 million, supported by a base of 117,000 paying customers and over 10 million total users.
However, the most significant indicator of the company’s future direction is the growth of its AI product suite. ARR from AI-specific tools surged from $4 million to more than $38 million in a single year—an 850% growth rate. Additionally, the segment of customers paying more than $50,000 annually grew by 74%, suggesting that large enterprises are increasingly turning to Semrush to solve the complex problem of AI visibility.
The acquisition by Adobe is strategically designed to capitalize on this growth. Adobe’s marketing cloud is proficient at content creation (via tools like Firefly and Express) and content delivery (via Experience Cloud), but it has historically lacked a comprehensive layer for understanding "discoverability." By integrating Semrush, Adobe can offer a closed-loop system where marketers can create content, optimize it for AI agents, and measure its visibility across the entire digital ecosystem.
Industry Reactions and Regulatory Context
The shift toward agentic search is not occurring in a vacuum. Major competitors in the SEO space are also racing to adapt. Ahrefs has integrated AI Overviews tracking into its Keywords Explorer, and Moz Pro has launched an AI Visibility feature in open beta. Simultaneously, a new wave of startups is emerging to bridge the gap between AI agents and commerce. For instance, Lemrock recently raised $6 million to build an "agentic commerce" layer that connects retailers directly to LLMs like Claude and Perplexity.
Regulatory bodies are also taking notice of the changing landscape. The European Commission, under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), recently issued preliminary findings that classify AI chatbots with search functionalities alongside traditional search engines. This regulatory signal suggests that the distinction between "search" and "AI answers" is collapsing not just in terms of technology, but also in terms of legal and policy frameworks.
Implications for the Modern Marketing Organization
The research accompanying Semrush’s framework underscores a critical organizational challenge: the "visibility gap" is often as much about internal structure as it is about external technology. Semrush found that among marketing teams that are fully aligned on search and AI optimization, 55% reported that brand visibility is "clearly measurable and actionable." In contrast, among siloed teams where SEO, content strategy, and AI initiatives are managed separately, that figure drops to 15.5%.
For Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), the framework suggests that the traditional separation of digital marketing functions is no longer tenable. If AI agents are synthesizing answers from a variety of sources—including social media, technical documentation, and customer reviews—then "visibility" becomes a cross-functional responsibility.
As the Adobe acquisition nears completion, the industry will be watching to see if Semrush’s Brand Visibility Framework becomes the new gold standard for digital strategy. While SEO remains a foundational requirement, it is no longer sufficient. The emergence of Agentic Search Optimisation marks the beginning of a new chapter in digital marketing, one where the goal is no longer just to rank on page one, but to ensure that when an AI agent makes a decision on behalf of a human, your brand is the one it chooses to recommend. The question for modern brands is no longer just how to be seen by people, but how to be understood and trusted by the machines that people rely on.