14 Leading SEOs For Russia & The RuNet (2022)

Russia is a complex market from an organic search perspective, and with new legislation leveling the Russian search playing field even more.

Not only is it one of the biggest countries on Earth, with a population spread over multiple time zones – but also a unique country in that it has two prominent search engines, Yandex and Google.

This list is the 2022 edition of leading SEO professionals in the Russian (RuNet) market.

List Details

  • Not all professionals on this list are based in Russia.
  • The list was compiled and then randomized three times, so being in position one on the list is in no way more of an endorsement than being in last.

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1. Andrey Kalinin

Director of Artificial Intelligence Technologies, Deputy Vice President, VK Group

Andrey has extensive experience in developing systems for processing text in natural language, participated in the creation of the first domestic spam filter, Kaspersky Anti-Spam.

2. Alexander Kozoriz

Head of SEO, M.Video

Alexander started SEO in 2005. From 2008 to 2017, he worked at Ashmanov & Partners, where, since 2011, he headed the search engine optimization department. An active participant in more than 700 projects to promote sites in search engines since the beginning of his career. Regularly speaks at conferences Optimization, eTarget, IBC Russia, FinInternet, RIW.

3. Anna Khryapina

Analyst, Seowork

Currently an Analyst at Seowork, Anna previously worked at both WebIT and OZON.ru. Anna has experience working with some of the biggest ecommerce websites in Russia, with OZON on her CV and Eldorado in her portfolio.

4. Nadezhda Vinogradov

Analyst, Data Insight

Nadezhda conducts research in the field of eCommerce: eCommerce Ecosystem, Internet Commerce in Russia. Her responsibilities include preparing a monthly logistics report, and other logistics market research.

5. Elena Hakobyan

Search Engine Optimization Manager, Lenta

Elena has been in the SEO industry for 5 years, beginning her career in 2015 at Wavemaker – where she led a large banking project. She quickly progressed and prior to Lenta spent 3 years as head of SEO at M.Video.L

Lenta is one of the largest retail chains in Russia, so Elena’s insights into mass FMCG and enterprise eCommerce in Russia are some of the very best.

6. Vladimir Korolenko

Managing Partner and Head SEO, kite. Digital Agency

Vladimir’s portfolio includes cases of work with MyBook (Liters Group of Companies), Tinkoff, Joom, INMYROOM, and has spoken at a number of conferences including:  Baltic Digital Days, RIF Voronezh, All-in-Top, TeamLead Conf.

7. Galina Bakusheva

SEO Partner

10+ years in SEO. Expert in launching affiliate sites and information projects. The main niches in which it works are the entertainment industry, sports betting, online games and other related highly competitive topics. At the moment he is engaged in his projects. The author of the Telegram channel SEOshnitsa.

8. Denis Kolesnikov

Group Head of SEO at OZON

Denis has over 7 years of experience in SEO. He leads a group of optimizers in one of the largest marketplaces in the country, OZON. Last year, OZON managed to do the impossible and overtake Wildberries, the leader in the eCommerce industry.

9. Timur Ugulava

Mediasphere

Timur has been engaged in digital marketing since 2010 and specializes in UGC (user-generated content) and blogs.

10. Victoria Naumova

Quick Shock

Executive director of the digital agency Quick Shock and director of internal projects development.

11. Evgeny Kostin

Project Manager “Tools for SEO-Professionals”, PromoPult

A regular speaker at industry conferences: RIF + KIB, RIW, SPiK, Optimization and others. Co-author and ideological inspirer of the book “Promotion: Secrets of Effective Website Promotion” – a bestseller and winner of the Ozon.ru Book Prize.

Current clients include Concert.ru, Moscow Furniture House, DoubleTree Moscow by Hilton, and a number of other large companies.

12. Alexander Kororiz

Head of SEO, M.Video

He started SEO in 2005. From 2008 to 2017, he worked at Ashmanov & Partners, where he headed the search engine optimization department since 2011. An active participant in more than 700 projects to promote sites in search engines since the beginning of his career. Regularly speaks at conferences Optimization, eTarget, IBC Russia, FinInternet, RIW.

13. Olga Ryabkova

CX-tracker, Sberbank

CX Tracker, HPI Certified Design Thinking Coach. Organizes customer research in B2B, mentors product teams in the direction of product research.

14. Natalia Lukicheva

CX-tracker, Sberbank

CX tracker, design thinker, facilitator. For more than 5 years, she has been conducting customer research, mentoring product teams in the direction of product research.

Dan Taylor
Dan Taylor is an experienced SEO consultant and has worked with brands and companies on optimizing for Russia (and Yandex) for a number of years. Winner of the inaugural 2018 TechSEO Boost competition, webmaster at HreflangChecker.com and Sloth.Cloud, and founder of RussianSearchNews.com.