Ryan Ricketts

About Ryan Ricketts

Ryan is an award-winning executive of SEO, AI SEO, and Product Management with over two decades of professional work experience across search engine optimization (SEO), product management, and digital marketing. He loves building teams of whip-smart product managers and SEO professionals who want to deliver career-defining work.Currently, Ryan leads global SEO and AI SEO efforts for the Microsoft Commercial portfolio including Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, Windows 365, Teams, Microsoft Security, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, GitHub, and more.Ryan was recently awarded the 2025 Microsoft Pinnacle Award, which was given to only 43 people globally—the top 0.007% of the company—who contributed transformational impact while demonstrating outstanding leadership and values.Ryan\'s team earned Microsoft the \"Category Leader in AI Search Visibility for Digital Technology & Software,\" an award given by Semrush in 2025 for having the highest weighted share of voice in AI search mentions and citations.Previous to Microsoft, Ryan led the SEO team for national retailer REI and was also accountable for platform product teams that were accountable for accessibility (A11y), web performance, design systems, analytics, and experimentation across websites garnering over $1 billion in annual revenue.During his 7+ years at REI, Ryan received the Anderson Award in 2017 (aka divisional employee of the year) and was nominated for divisional leader of the year three times in a row. His team also earned the Accessibility Culture Award at Deque Axe-con 2022. The SEO Program under Ryan at REI delivered seven straight years (2015–2021) of organic search traffic growth to REI.com and culminated in $300+ million in digital revenue per year.Beyond platform product development and digital marketing, Ryan spearheaded the creation of employee resource groups (ERGs) at REI and was on the leadership team for Outside with Pride (now Prism), the LGBTQ-focused inclusion network for employees. During their initial year, Ryan and the rest of the leadership team grew membership by over 1,500 people.Previous to REI, Ryan spent seven years at Whirlpool Corporation working on digital marketing for brands such as Whirlpool, Maytag, and KitchenAid.Ryan is an avid traveler, hiker, and camper and is actively trying to complete his \"50 before 50\" bucket list. He lives in Seattle, Washington, with his husband and their husky.

Experience

1. Director, Global Marketing Seo

   Microsoft

   May 2023 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Lead all SEO and AI SEO efforts for the commercial marketing portfolio at Microsoft including Azure, Microsoft 365, Windows 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Security, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, GitHub, and more. Our team builds non-branded content, supports marketing efforts with keyword research, and optimizes technical SEO elements.

Education

• University of Notre Dame

  BA, Business, Management Information Systems

Skills

• Front-End Development
• Web Design
• Digital Strategy
• Html + Css
• Marketing Communications
• Dreamweaver
• Content Management
• Xhtml
• Web Development
• SEO
• Creative Direction
• Data Analysis
• Html
• Online Advertising
• Web Analytics
• Digital Marketing
• Accessibility
• Wysiwyg Layout Tools
• Html5
• Analytics
• Xml
• Online Marketing
• Sem
• Google Analytics
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Social Media
• Web Standards
• System Architecture
• Css
• Mobile Technology
• Information Architecture
• Programming
• Google Adwords
• Email Marketing
• Graphic Design
• Strategy
• E-Commerce
• User Interface Design
• Layout