For so long as I’ve been on this business, there’s been debate about whether or not search engine optimization is strategic or tactical. Most SEOs want to imagine their work is strategic. Many executives see it as tactical. The reality is someplace in between, and the arrival of generative AI is forcing a brand new degree of readability.
This issues as a result of “technique” and “ways” aren’t synonyms. In enterprise, technique is the plan. Ways are the strikes. Complicated the 2 doesn’t simply muddy language. It results in wasted sources, stalled initiatives, and misplaced expectations for what search engine optimization can and can’t ship.
Defining Technique Vs. Ways
Picture credit score: Duane Forrester
Enterprise literature has been clear on this for many years, and voices like Porter, Mintzberg, and Drucker formed how leaders all over the place speak about technique. Their framing applies immediately once we look at search engine optimization’s position at present.
Michael Porter is well known as the daddy of contemporary aggressive technique. A professor at Harvard Enterprise College, he framed technique as “selecting to run a unique race, as a result of it’s the one you’ve set your self as much as win.” His e-book “Aggressive Technique” stays one of many foundational texts in enterprise pondering (his e-book on Amazon – not an affiliate hyperlink).
Henry Mintzberg is without doubt one of the most cited teachers in administration and organizational principle. He’s well-known for noting, “Technique will not be the consequence of planning, however the reverse: its place to begin.” He additionally developed the 5 Ps framework — Plan, Ploy, Sample, Place, and Perspective — which captures technique as each deliberate and emergent (Mintzberg’s “The Technique Idea I: 5 Ps for Technique”).
Peter Drucker is usually known as the daddy of contemporary administration. His work formed how corporations take into consideration management and decision-making. He emphasised that “the duty of management is to create an alignment of strengths so robust that it makes the system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” His e-book “The Apply of Administration” is taken into account a landmark in defining administration’s position in aligning technique with organizational outcomes (Drucker biography on the Drucker Institute).
Ways, against this, are the sensible steps. They’re what frontline groups execute, often with short-term horizons. A method may be to compete on buyer belief as an alternative of low costs. The ways are testimonial campaigns, return insurance policies, and coaching workers to ship distinctive service.
Different enterprise capabilities get this distinction. In gross sales, technique is deciding to prioritize enterprise accounts. Ways are outreach sequences and demo scripts. In PR, technique is positioning the model as an business chief. Ways are pitching journalists and writing press releases. search engine optimization is not any completely different.
The confusion comes as a result of search engine optimization usually has to “do all of it.” Practitioners are anticipated to establish alternatives, set priorities, after which execute the work. That’s the place the labels blur.
Technique And Ways In Conventional search engine optimization
Wanting again on the historical past of search engine optimization makes the divide simpler to see.
- Early 2000s, PageRank period: Technique was easy. Put money into being discoverable on Google. Ways included hyperlink constructing, listing submissions, and keyword-stuffed pages. Corporations that handled search engine optimization purely tactically usually succeeded short-term however collapsed when penalties arrived. The technique was clear. Pursue visibility on Google, whereas the ways had been the hyperlink farms, key phrase stuffing, and listing submissions that executed it.
- 2010–2015, Panda and Penguin: Google cracked down on low-quality content material and manipulative hyperlinks. Technique shifted to “high quality and sustainability.” Ways turned pruning skinny content material, disavowing unhealthy hyperlinks, and investing in editorial groups. Content material farms like Demand Media scaled on ways, however lacked sustainable technique, they usually had been decimated by Panda. Right here once more, management set the strategic shift towards high quality, and search engine optimization carried it out by content material pruning and hyperlink cleanup.
- 2015–2020, Cellular and Core Internet Vitals: Technique was “meet customers the place they’re.” They had been on cell and wished quick experiences. Ways had been responsive design, structured knowledge, and website pace audits. Corporations that made this strategic shift early (e.g., information shops investing in AMP) gained benefit. The strategic purpose was serving customers the place they had been, whereas search engine optimization carried out the tactical fixes that delivered on it.
- 2020s, BERT and passage indexing: Technique tilted towards semantic relevance, competing not simply on key phrases however on that means and intent. Ways had been writing for matters, structuring content material for passage-level retrieval, and emphasizing context. Technique tilted towards that means; ways adopted within the type of matter clusters and passage-level optimization.
At each stage, management set the technique (“we’d like progress from search”), and search engine optimization executed the ways. Superior SEOs generally influenced technique by warning about dangers or alternatives, however the bulk of labor remained tactical.
Technique And Ways In GenAI Optimization
Generative AI reshapes the panorama. As an alternative of 10 blue hyperlinks, customers now get synthesized solutions. That adjustments each the strategic questions and the tactical execution.
Strategic selections now embrace:
- Deciding whether or not to compete for visibility throughout a number of AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and many others.).
- Prioritizing authority alerts so your model is cited in machine solutions.
- Selecting the place to allocate price range: competing for evergreen visibility in broad matters, or dominating slim niches the place AI protection is weaker.
- Figuring out how a lot to spend money on retrievability testing and monitoring as an organizational perform.
Tactical execution now contains:
- Structuring content material into retrievable chunks sized for vector search.
- Operating retrieval assessments throughout platforms to measure publicity.
- Optimizing semantic density so every chunk is information-rich and self-contained.
- Including schema and structured knowledge to make clear entities and info.
- Monitoring machine-validated authority by measuring whether or not your content material is surfaced or cited in AI responses.
- Question fan-out work to find out alternatives and establish semantic overlap.
These ways look new, however they construct immediately on the inspiration of conventional search engine optimization. Schema is solely structured markup, refined. Semantic density is the following evolution of topical relevance. Retrieval assessments are the trendy equal of checking indexation. GenAI optimization doesn’t substitute search engine optimization; it evolves from it.
GenAI Optimization: Is It A Technique Or Tactic?
The sudden surge of curiosity in “GenAI optimization” is an ideal case examine on this strategy-versus-tactics debate.
Everyone seems to be speaking about chunking, embeddings, and retrievability as if they’re technique. They aren’t. They’re ways. And treating ways as technique is a traditional oversimplification, one thing the business has been responsible of for many years.
- On the strategic degree: Companies determine that GenAI visibility is important. They commit price range to turning into retrievable and authoritative throughout AI methods. They set objectives to be cited in machine solutions for his or her core vertical.
- On the tactical degree: Groups restructure content material into chunks, add schema, run retrieval probes in ChatGPT or Perplexity, and measure quotation frequency.
Each layers are wanted. The chance comes when corporations mistake tactical execution for technique.
The Value Of Misalignment
When technique and ways are misaligned, companies lose, and the losses are measurable.
- Missed alternatives: If management hasn’t set a method for GenAI visibility, tactical work is scattershot. Groups optimize content material however don’t know which queries, matters, or surfaces matter. Opponents with clearer methods win the bottom.
- Misplaced income: With out technique, corporations might safe citations in AI solutions that don’t align with buyer worth. The result’s visibility with out conversion.
- Wasted budgets: Chasing each GenAI pattern and not using a clear North Star results in funding in instruments and audits that ship no significant ROI.
- Eroded belief: When executives imagine they’ve funded a method however solely see tactical outputs, confidence in search engine optimization groups drops. Management anticipated market impression and the crew solely delivered structural updates.
The lesson is blunt: Companies don’t often fail as a result of ways are poorly executed. They often fail as a result of ways aren’t anchored in technique.
Why search engine optimization Has Been Seen As Tactical
For twenty years, search engine optimization has been outlined by tactical output. Executives set the technique (“We’d like natural progress”), and search engine optimization was tasked with delivering by audits, fixes, optimizations, and publishing.
This framing wasn’t flawed because it mirrored the organizational construction. Technique was set larger up; SEOs carried it out. That’s why search engine optimization usually struggled to win price range or a seat in strategic planning conferences. It was seen as execution.
The AI-Pushed Shift
Generative AI adjustments that equation. Machines are absorbing tactical search engine optimization duties. At present, AI instruments can generate meta descriptions, counsel key phrases, construct inner linking suggestions, even create structured schema markup. Some platforms simulate retrieval patterns immediately. What as soon as required specialised search engine optimization execution is more and more automated.
That doesn’t eradicate search engine optimization. It elevates it. If tactical execution is turning into commoditized, the worth shifts to technique.
This mirrors Microsoft’s analysis on AI’s occupational impacts, which distinguishes between person objectives (strategic intent) and AI actions (tactical execution). People set the “why.” AI delivers the “how.”
For search engine optimization, the identical shift is underway. The tactical layer is being automated. The strategic alternative is to steer on visibility, authority, and belief in AI-driven ecosystems.
Drawing The Line With Examples
- Conventional search engine optimization in monetary providers: The technique is to dominate “retirement planning for millennials.” The ways embrace create calculators, publish evergreen guides, optimize metadata, and construct related backlinks.
- GenAI optimization in sustainable investing: The technique is to make sure the model is a trusted quotation in AI solutions on ESG funds. The ways embrace run retrieval checks in Perplexity, embed structured citations, optimize chunks for semantic readability, and measure quotation frequency in ChatGPT and Gemini.
One units the route. The opposite executes the playbook.
Why This Feels Sensitive
Many SEOs name their work strategic as a result of they join content material, technical structure, and authority alerts right into a broader image. In lots of organizations, they’re the one ones framing visibility in any respect, however that doesn’t make each motion strategic.
That deserves credit score. However precision issues. Operating an audit will not be technique. Updating a robots.txt file will not be technique. These are tactical actions. If we blur the road, we diminish our affect at exactly the second AI is eroding the worth of ways.
The place The Stability Lies
So, is search engine optimization strategic or tactical? The sincere reply is each, however not equally.
- Traditionally, search engine optimization has been tactical.
- At present, search engine optimization carries strategic implications, particularly as AI reshapes discovery.
- The chance is to make the leap: from executing optimizations to shaping how organizations seem in machine-driven solutions.
The stability is that this: Ways nonetheless matter. You possibly can’t ignore schema, chunking, or retrieval testing. However the differentiator is technique: deciding which battles to combat, which surfaces to win, and learn how to align search engine optimization with the corporate’s long-term positioning.
Why This Issues For SEOs
This isn’t a semantic debate. It’s about affect and survival.
- If search engine optimization is seen as tactical, it’s underfunded, siloed, and introduced in too late.
- If search engine optimization is seen as strategic, it will get price range, sources, and a seat within the boardroom.
The GenAI shift creates a once-in-a-generation opening for SEOs to redefine their worth. As AI absorbs extra tactical execution, the actual alternative is for SEOs to align with company-level technique and broaden their scope into visibility, belief, and authority. Those that acknowledge the distinction between technique and ways will step into management. Those that keep targeted solely on tactical execution threat being automated out.
Closing Thought
For 20 years, search engine optimization has been tactical excellence in service of progress. With GenAI, the tactical layer is shifting to machines. That makes technique the defining frontier.
Not as a result of SEOs immediately turned strategists, however as a result of the surroundings calls for it. The query now’s: will SEOs step into that position, or will another person declare it?
Extra Sources:
This put up was initially revealed on Duane Forrester Decodes.
Featured Picture: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock
