Before we can effectively discuss the merits of different search engine marketing approaches, it’s crucial to have a shared understanding of the terminology.
The recent emergence of “SEP” (Search Engine Positioning) alongside the established field of SEO has created a need for clarification. Is SEP a distinct discipline with its own unique strategies, or is it simply a different way of describing what SEO professionals already do?
In this post, we aim to define these terms and explore their relationship.
We’ve gathered insights from leading SEO experts and business leaders, asking them to weigh in on the SEO vs. SEP debate and share their perspectives on this angle of the evolving landscape of search.
Read on!s
Jordan Anthony
Search engine positioning accounts for most of the day-to-day work of our SEO team, but it’s not the only thing they do.
They work very closely with our marketing team to identify search keywords to target and make sure they’re aligned with our current offerings.
They help to ensure that our internal site architecture is in good shape, especially in terms of load times and internal links, and they also spend time monitoring our competitors to see how we can improve.
Jordan Anthony
Head of Nutrition, Ahara
Ryan Farley
I like to think of search engine positioning as the “cherry on top” of our SEO efforts.
It’s essential to start the process by optimizing your site’s internal structure and technical performance in order to perform well with the bots that create search indexes, and to carefully choose the keywords you want to target for your business.
Once those steps are done, you can focus on positioning in order to improve your site’s performance specifically on your chosen keywords.
Ryan Farley
CEO, LawnStarter
Rafael Friedman
The short answer here is that Search Engine Positioning is just a subset of SEO work that focuses specifically on how certain pages on your site rank for certain keywords.
It doesn’t include choosing the right keywords, optimizing your site’s technical SEO, or anything related to user experience; it’s strictly focused on getting better rankings on search engines.
It’s certainly one of the most important aspects of SEO, but far from the only one, especially now that AI has started to shift the search landscape.
Scott Gabdullin
It’s more of a refined approach to traditional SEO.
While SEO has always been about improving a website’s visibility, positioning takes it a step further by focusing on securing prime spots for keywords that matter most to your business.
The real difference is in how we look at data: instead of just tweaking keywords, positioning is about understanding your audience’s intent, keeping an eye on competitors, and adjusting to trends as they happen.
It’s less about broad optimization and more about being smart and strategic, constantly improving your ranking based on what actually moves the needle.
Scott Gabdullin
Founder, Authority Factors
Carolyn Shelby
Search Engine Positioning isn’t a brand-new idea; it’s more like a rebranding of what good SEO has always been.
The basics—creating helpful content, making sure your site runs well, and building trust—haven’t gone anywhere. What’s changed is the growing emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT).
Search engines always cared about EEAT, but now, with AI getting better at understanding content and context, they rely on it even more.
The technical side of SEO still matters, but AI has made search engines less dependent on rigid structures to understand what’s on a page. Instead, they’re getting better at pulling meaning straight from the content.
So, while “Search Engine Positioning” might sound like something shiny and new, it’s really just good SEO that’s evolving alongside smarter technology.
The same principles still apply—they’re just working with smarter tools.
Carolyn Shelby
Principal, SEO, Yoast
Stephen Greet
For me, search engine positioning represents a shift in focus from optimizing for algorithms to optimizing for trust and authority in search landscapes.
Unlike traditional SEO, which zeroes in on technical rankings, positioning is about controlling the narrative of how your brand appears across diverse search contexts. It prioritizes the bigger picture—are you the most relevant answer to a user’s journey, not just their query?
At BeamJobs, we realized early that traditional SEO techniques only got us so far. To truly dominate our niche, we leaned into hyper-specific authority-building. Instead of targeting a broad term like ‘resume help,’ we positioned ourselves as the go-to expert for ‘resume customization for career pivots.’
This required not just SEO but partnerships with career coaches, high-impact guest content, and engagement in career-oriented communities.
Search engine positioning isn’t just about being found—it’s about being trusted as the definitive
Stephen Greet
CEO & Co-founder, BeamJobs
Mike Fretto
For us, search engine positioning is downstream of choosing the right keywords.
Especially since we have a rotating stock of inventory based on the season and changing trends, we’re constantly tweaking the keyword mix we’re targeting as a way to optimize sales of new products.
Search engine positioning is something we focus on primarily for products where we’ve already made our choice of keywords to focus on.
We spend a lot of time on it for our main landing page rather than specific product pages.
Mike Fretto
Creative Director, Neighbor
Hanzel Talorete
SEP is indeed more than a modern twist on old techniques.
It strategically targets the placement of websites within precise segments of search results, such as local listings or featured snippets. This refined approach doesn’t just aim to enhance visibility broadly but dives into the nuances of user interactions with search engines.
By analyzing search intent and user behaviors through advanced analytics, SEP tailors content more effectively to meet specific needs.
This targeted positioning can significantly boost user engagement and conversion rates, marking a clear advancement from traditional SEO methods.
Hanzel Talorete
Content Manager, Get Smart Series
Priyanshu Dubey
From my experience Search Engine Positioning (SEP) isn’t just a new name for SEO; it is a more focused and data-driven approach to optimize your online/digital presence.
While it builds on traditional SEO principles, SEP includes a number of innovative strategies, like Page level Precision.
Instead of optimizing an entire website, SEP targets specific pages, which allow us for more granular control and faster results in comparison with our other day to day SEO efforts.
Data- Driven Decision Through Google Analytics and adding it to the new gen data analytics tool let SEO experts like us to create content according to it plus also analyzing our Seo efforts.
Also, as I am observing that voice is more prevalent day by day, So through SEP I focus more on optimizing content for natural language queries.
From SEP, I have achieved faster results in comparison to my previous SEO efforts.
Priyanshu Dubey
SEO Specialist, Knee Xpert
Jeremy Yamaguchi
Search engine positioning and SEO really are pretty similar – but they aren’t totally the same.
Search engine positioning is really like a more specific strategy within the broader scope of SEO.
What mostly makes it different is that it focuses on specific pages on a website. Rather than just focusing on increasing visibility and authority of the website as a whole, its focus is to make sure that particular pages are boosted up high in search results according to keywords.
It’s not just that you want people to find your website, it’s that you want people to find exact relevant pages when they look up specific keywords.
And, at the end of the day search engine positioning still helps improve overall SEO too.
On behalf of the BoostMyDomain community of readers, we thank these leaders and experts for taking the time to share valuable insights that stem from years of experience and in-depth expertise in their respective niches.
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