Could this be negative SEO?

[AndyMediaLounge]

Hi,

I've attached a copy of our Google ranking for one of our keywords for our site and a competitor. Also shown is the number of external links over time for the same 2 sites.

There seems to be a striking resemblance between the 2 sites so could this be the result of negative SEO?

What's the best way to determine whether you've been targeted for negative SEO?

Thanks,

site-analysis.jpg

[stuarta60]

Was this not around the time of pengiun and panda updates?

[irvingw]

use back link tools to see who is linking to you and from where. it's super fast to determine if someone is spamming links to your website.

[TheeDigital]

It could definitely be a response from Panda/Penguin, as Irving pointed out the best thing for you to do is use a backlinks tool such as Open Site Explorer and take a look at who is linking to your website.
Are these websites spammy or could they be blacklisted by Google?