A power tong positioner has one or more eddy current probes mounted in association with a power tong/backup unit. An electric current runs through the probe, and with the probe positioned close to a tubular connection, movement of the probe along the length of the connection, with the electric field encompassing surface features on the tubular, will cause a change in the electrical impedance (conductivity) which enable identification of the connection seam or other defined attributes (the “target” attributes). The power tong/backup unit can be positioned accordingly. A portfolio of profiles of non-connection seam surface features of different tubular connections may be generated, stored in a database, and accessed by the system, which enables identifying the connection seam/face with greater accuracy. Other attributes of the invention include storing profile information on RFID tags, and storing and accessing tubular information from a cloud server or other form of remote database.