In most markets, if Google were to switch off the power that links hold and for example make social the main ranking factor they would have a very
odd looking index with pages that should be ranking not appearing because they don't have the social traction.
Yeah, I know — steep learning curve, uses different skills to the programs you use, the default settings
look odd — but once someone's learned it there are tools for cross-references and
indexes and glossaries that are more powerful and easier to use than what MS Word provides.