Semrush Unveils Brand Visibility Framework at Adobe Summit
▼ Summary
– Semrush launched a Brand Visibility Framework at Adobe Summit, introducing “Agentic Search Optimisation” as a new discipline for measuring brand presence across AI and traditional search.
– The launch context includes a severe drop in organic traffic, with click-through rates falling 61% on queries with AI Overviews and 62% of brands being invisible to generative AI.
– The framework is based on analysis of over 213 million LLM prompts and distinguishes AI optimization from traditional SEO, as AI systems synthesize answers rather than rank links.
– Semrush’s strategic position is highlighted by its pending $1.9 billion acquisition by Adobe and 850% growth in its AI product revenue to $38 million ARR.
– The article notes a structural challenge for marketers, as siloed teams struggle to measure AI visibility, and the distinction between search engines and AI answers is collapsing.
The digital landscape for brand discovery is undergoing a seismic shift, moving far beyond the traditional search engine results page. At the Adobe Summit, Semrush introduced a strategic Brand Visibility Framework designed to help companies measure and manage their presence across a fragmented ecosystem of AI-generated answers and autonomous agents. This new model formally establishes Agentic Search Optimisation as a critical discipline, leveraging an analysis of over 213 million LLM prompts to show brands how they are referenced, or ignored, in systems where users never click a link.
This launch comes at a pivotal moment for Semrush, as its pending $1.9 billion acquisition by Adobe progresses toward an expected close in the first half of this year. The framework strategically positions Semrush’s technology as the essential visibility layer within Adobe’s marketing cloud, addressing a core challenge as AI rewrites the rules of consumer discovery.
The urgent need for this new approach is underscored by stark data. Organic click-through rates have fallen 61% on queries where Google’s AI Overviews appear, a feature now triggered on nearly half of all tracked searches. The rise of zero-click searches, where users get answers without visiting websites, jumped from 56% to 69% of all queries between May 2024 and May 2025. While traffic from AI search converts at a much higher rate, there is far less of it, and brands have little control over whether an AI system mentions them. A central finding reveals a troubling gap: while 94% of brands invest in traditional SEO, 62% remain technically invisible to generative AI models, with minimal overlap between top traditional search results and AI-generated answers.
Semrush defines the new goal as achieving discoverability and authoritative representation across both human- and machine-mediated surfaces. The framework’s operational core, Agentic Search Optimisation, is fundamentally different from traditional SEO. It is built for a world where an AI agent evaluates brand relevance on a user’s behalf and surfaces a single recommendation, rather than a list of links. The mechanics differ because AI systems synthesize answers from data and reasoning; they do not rank web pages using conventional signals.
This model expands on Semrush’s AI Visibility Index, launched last October, which tracks brand mentions and citations across major AI platforms. Drawing on its vast prompt database, the index functions as a form of keyword research for AI, mapping user intent and query volume directed at these new systems.
The commercial impetus for this shift is clear in Semrush’s financials. While the company reported strong overall growth, revenue from its AI-specific tools skyrocketed by roughly 850% to an annualised $38 million. The strategic fit with Adobe is evident: Adobe’s marketing cloud excels at content creation and delivery, while Semrush provides the critical layer for understanding where that content is found. The framework serves as the intellectual blueprint for this integration.
New CEO Bill Wagner, who stepped into the role last March, framed the company’s evolution succinctly, noting that while SEO remains table stakes, marketers now need new tools for the AI visibility equation. This is reflected in the company’s recent rebranding from an SEO toolkit to a comprehensive brand visibility platform built for AI-driven discovery.
The industry is mobilising in response to the same pressures. Competitors like Ahrefs and Moz are adding AI tracking features, while startups build commerce layers for AI agents. Some retailers already report traffic declines up to 30% as queries migrate from Google to AI. The framework’s research highlights that success is as much organisational as technical. Teams fully aligned on search and AI strategy were over three times more likely to find visibility measurable and actionable compared to siloed teams, where SEO, content, and AI efforts are managed separately.
Regulatory bodies are also acknowledging the convergence, with the European Commission’s recent Digital Markets Act findings classifying AI chatbots with search functions alongside traditional search engines. For businesses, the pressing question is no longer if AI will change discovery, but whether they will be discoverable at all.
Semrush’s framework provides a structured response by precisely naming the problem, offering a measurement system, and proposing an organisational model to address it. Its ultimate impact will depend on how effectively the model aligns with the opaque realities of how AI systems actually select and surface brand information in the wild.
(Source: The Next Web)
