Adobe completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush twelve days ago
Semrush sells AI visibility. It is now Adobe's answer to the question of how brands show up in AI-generated answers.
We ran it through an AI buying journey this morning.
Generic presence score: 0.
When a buyer opens ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity and asks which tool to use for GEO - without naming Semrush - the AI does not think of Semrush.
Yext takes the spontaneous consideration set. Semrush is absent from the T4 purchase recommendation on every specified platform in the generic probe.
On Gemini, the model is questioning whether Semrush exists as a coherent entity post-acquisition.
The $1.9 billion deal that was supposed to add enterprise credibility is destabilising the brand's position in the reasoning chain.
Adobe bleeds into the agentic handoff turn as a co-recommendation, fragmenting the purchase decision at the exact moment a buyer is ready to convert.
Reasoning Chain Score: 62/100.
We then ran the same audit on AIVO Meridian. The platform we use to run these audits. Launched six weeks ago.
Also 62/100.
We're not exempt from the problem we measure. Neither is Semrush.
Appearing in the answer is not the same event as winning it. Adobe spent $1.9 billion on the former. The latter is still unsolved.