Is SWE vs SETI salary at the same level comparable/equal at Google?

Yes same bands

Last I heard, SETI was the rebranded QA/tester role to make it seem more important than it is. I was always told don't accept an SETI offer, ask for SWE. This is all second-hand knowledge.

Everyone likes to pretend seti and swe are the same but unless u are really horny about infra and testing, Swe has better projects. Seti is not a rebranded qa role. Qa is separate.