Can tidal forces significantly alter the orbits of satellites? I would assume that there are other larger, more significant, forces acting on artificial satellites, but can tidal forces drastically alter the orbit of a satellite over time? 
I was thinking this could especially be an issue for a satellite in geostationary orbit, because they have to be extremely precisely positioned. However, I could see this being an issue for satellites in other orbits as well, just not to the same degree.
 A: Tidal force acting on a natural satellite, like the moon around the earth, is the result of the deformability of the earth as the moon affects it and slowly the moon recedes from the earth. In general these tidal forces can be accelerating or decelerating :

their orbital period is shorter than their planet's rotation. In other words, they revolve faster around the planet than the planet rotates. In this case the tidal bulges raised by the moon on their planet lag behind the moon, and act to decelerate it in its orbit.

The size of the artificial satellites is such that this type of effect is very small in disturbing the orbit . After all the moon with all its size is still here and will be in orbit forever though at a distance, unless there is a collision with a third body or the sun turns nova.
The energy losses due to friction with the matter ( there is no complete vacuum) in their orbit is important and will mask any effect since the orbits are continually corrected for the losses as Whatroughbeast says in his/her answer.
The tidal bulges due to the Moon on the earth do affect satellites and  have to be taken into account as discussed here.
A: Satellites in geosync are not "precisely positioned". Instead, they drift around and require station-keeping thrusters. If, by "tidal forces" you mean gravitational forces associated with the sun and the moon, then the answer is yes, and the effects are quite important.
A: No, the movement of water bodies on earth does not significantly influence the orbit of man made satellites. Due to the movement of the water, and the shape of the earth, the center of gravity of the earth shifts slightly. Sometimes this pulls the satellite a bit more to the front, and sometimes a bit more to the back (sideways is also possible). On average, the effect is zero though.  
If the orbit of the satellite is exactly synced with the orbit of the moon, there would be an effect over time. In that case, extra fuel would need to be brought to keep it in orbit. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_acceleration
There are minor perturbations of the orbit due to tidal forces though: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/BFb0011470 They are in the order of centimeters, whereas geostationary height is 35,786 km.
A: Yes, of course the tidal forces affect the orbits.   In the case of the Earth/moon
system, Earth's day used to be 18 hours, and when the tidal slowing got
to our current 24-hour solar day(23 hours fifty-odd minutes sidereal)
the angular momentum went into the Lunar orbit, and the moon is more distant
nowadays.
That 18-hour day was the status quo about 900 million years ago.   The
moon's orbit is expanding about 3.8cm per year, and Earth's day is growing
at 2 milliseconds per century.   Whether you call this orbital change 'significant'
or not, is a judgment call.   I'd say it is significant, because the Moon
wouldn't be so near unless it was created or captured more recently than the
birth of planet Earth.
