Is this considered cloaking?

Modifying a page based on http_refer

[brmmbrmm]

I have several clients in one topic area and a directory page that links to them. When I search for a key phrase, the directory page oftens appears very much higher in Google than the website linked from the directory.

I'm hoping this is because the directory is new and has no PR yet, but in case things don't change I want to include a link at the top of the directory which uses HTTP_Refer to extract the Google search phrase and allow someone to click down straight to the client's listing.

As the link will only be displayed when someone navigates to the directory from Google, is it considered cloaking? Any views?

[TravelMan]

Id say not.

Nothing wrong with giving the user an extra option.

However, IMO, If you took things one stage further and redirected them based on the query string then you could be asking for trouble.

Just my opinion, but i think its better to show people more or less what the spider sees as opposed to what *you* think they *should* see.

[idoc]

"When I search for a key phrase, the directory page oftens appears very much higher in Google than the website linked from the directory."

That seems to be the constant now.

"the directory is new and has no PR yet"

and yet it still outranks your established sites because it just links to them.

IMO only... G would consider showing the surfer a different page than the bots to violate their t.o.s. Whether you would be penalized if someone turned you in... if anyone knows of this happening I would feel better about it. I have seen more and more pseudo-directories that capture your search string and paste it into a static page. I found one of these the other day that had three links to my site helping it to rank... I fed it some select "word candy". Can't wait for the next update. ;)

[brmmbrmm]

Thanks for the thoughts. I didn't expect anything definitive, but as I'm very wary of the TOS I'll probably leave it. I'm just hoping the directory gets some PR and passes it onto the sites soon - this directory dominance in Google is getting ridiculous.

[BigDave]

No, it isn't cloaking. It is serving up a dynamic page depending on the conditions. As long as the get substantially the same page as what someone gets that comes to your page any other way, you should be okay.

[brmmbrmm]

Thanks Big Dave. That feels right to me, and I think I'm now more confident about the idea.