Article by GSP – Published on Wednesday, 10 June 2026, 11:54 / Updated on Wednesday, 10 June 2026 11:54
There is an interesting similarity between football and marketing. In both fields, people are looking for quick fixes. Spectacular transfers. Immediate results. Figures that look good overnight. But the reality, in both worlds, is much less spectacular than it appears from the outside.
In football, a transfer does not automatically solve a team's problems. In marketing, a big budget campaign does not guarantee sustainable growth.
After almost 15 years spent in marketing, including a period in which he coordinated Dinamo Bucharest's marketing department, Dan Giuraniuc says that true performance is built over time, not in short campaigns.
“In football there's a temptation to solve every problem with a transfer. In online there's a temptation to solve every problem with more promotion budget. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. It's the build-up at the back and long-term consistency that makes the difference.”
He recently launched Rankest, an agency specializing in SEO and organic development for businesses.
The difference from classic marketing is that SEO does not deliver instant results, nor does it react to spur-of-the-moment impulses. It's a process that is more like rebuilding a team than an individual match.
“In football you need months or years to build a team. In SEO you need time to build authority. There are no real shortcuts that work in the long term. You can force a short-term result, but you can't fake consistency.”
For Dan, the experience in sports was a defining one in the way he views digital marketing today.
The period at Dinamo, he says, was one in which he understood how important the brand itself is, beyond immediate results.
“At Dinamo, I learned that trust is the most valuable asset a brand can have. It is not bought or built overnight. And it does not disappear easily. But it can be lost very quickly if it is not maintained.”
In his opinion, the same logic applies in the digital environment, where many companies confuse visibility with stability.
In recent years, the SEO industry has gone through a period of uncertainty, fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence and constant changes by Google.
More and more voices have spoken of the “death of SEO” or the complete replacement of search engines.
In practice, however, things look different.
“SEO isn't dying. It's fundamentally changing. It's becoming closer to editorial content, real expertise, and credible sources. AI isn't eliminating the need for information, it's filtering it more aggressively. That's exactly why it matters more who produces that information.”
In this context, Giuraniuc believes that the real stake is no longer the position in Google, but the ability of a brand to become a source.
“You can buy traffic. You can buy clicks. You can buy impressions. But you can't buy authority. And authority is what's left when you stop the budgets.”
He also says that one of the common problems in the market is the lack of an integrated strategy.
Many companies treat SEO as a separate channel, not part of a marketing ecosystem.
“SEO doesn't work in isolation. If you don't have good content, if you don't have structure, if you don't have a brand, the results are limited. It's just like a team without midfielders. You can have good strikers, but you don't build play.”
For him, Rankest is an attempt to link these elements in a more coherent way, oriented towards business results, not just visibility metrics.
In parallel, changes in user behavior are evident. People are no longer just looking for quick information, but for validation, comparison and context before making a decision.
SEO thus becomes a game of endurance, not a sprint.
“Those who understand this build advantages. Those who don't, remain dependent on ad budgets and platforms they don't control.”
In an industry where the rules are constantly changing, Dan Giuraniuc believes that the difference will not be made by who invests more, but who builds smarter.
photo source: unsplash.com
