Determining if our ranking is due to increased competition

[BobGW]

Hello,

I'd like to give you a list of DA/PA and see if the slipping of our rank is due to competition. This if for our main keyword. Below is the top ten sites in our industry - their DA and PA for this head term.

This is for the plural form of the keyword - a product term. If I don't say differently the following are where the title has the keyword in it exactly and also these are ecommerce site listings.

Does this look like we are being outdone by competition or would you say that there might be some other cause:

1. DA 85, PA 38

2. DA 34 PA 34  (These guys are mostly paid links by the way)

3. DA 100 PA 55  (singular form of keyword and also informational site)

4. DA 91 PA 41

5. DA 23 PA 24 (The only thing I see about this one is that their backlink profile is very white hat and they have the nicest looking site in our niche)

6. DA 29 PA 31 (exact match domain)

7. DA 99 PA 1

8. DA 22 PA 34 (Guide including infographics - doesn't sell products themselves)

9. DA 96 PA 1

10 DA 26 PA 38  -- This is us with 57 total root domains sitewide and 43 root domains to the home page.

Let me know what additional information you need.

[RickyShockley]

Too close on those numbers, especially in terms of spots 8,6,5 & 2. You're going to have to take a deeper look.

I'd start with digging into the link profiles. Find the links that your competitors have that are really high trust links--I'm talking BBB, industry accreditation sites, quality PR hits/mentions etc. Find the easy wins and try to identify the really high level links that your competitors have that you may be missing.

My second priority would be to check out your bounce rates and time on site. It may be that traffic is better served on those sites and therefore Google is giving them the nod in the rankings.

Third, I'd check out http://moz.com/blog/ranking-factors-2013. Dig in and see where your competitors are beating you in that regard step by step. Process of elimination I'm afraid....we can't really know for sure!

[BobGW]

What other information can I provide that would narrow down if it's competition?

[EGOL]

I would not bet five cents on any of this.   I am confident that you can find rankings that will show the opposite.