You have no idea at all how the algorithm of search engines works fundamentally , do you?! Everyone with a bit of logic and programming knowledge knows that unless quantum computing and AI takes over, the core of the algorithm (links + on-site) won't change. And I don't see that happening any time soon, I doubt it that we will even be alive to see it happen. And this is true for all search engines - Google, Yandex, Yahoo/Bing, etc... I have no idea where you draw the conclusion that links don't matter in Yandex, but you are completely wrong. And social signals will never be as major a ranking factor as links are, simply because they are out of Google's control. Google doesn't have access to that kind of data, so the numbers can be manipulated by a 10-year old buying a package in BHW. Hence why only social signal sellers spread the BS that they are the new "links" that rank your websites.