From my understanding, Google are only trying to improve their algorithm to counter "[b]uying or selling links to manipulate results and deceive search engines. TalkFreelance's text links on the homepage are there as a source of advertising income, right? (Rather than trying to trick Google with keywords.)

Why not use a rel="nofollow" as Google suggests, for your advertising links? Those links won't count as backlinks to the advertising site, so there's no worries about messing with the ranking algorithm. Unless I've misread their advice.