The present invention improves the stability of arc welding carried out by cyclical repetition of forward feed and reverse feed of a weld wire. An arc welding control method includes repeated forward feed and reverse feed at a weld wire feed rate, according to a prescribed cycle and a prescribed amplitude, and generation of short-circuit time intervals and arc time intervals to carry out welding, wherein the feed rate cycle and/or the amplitude are set automatically on the basis of the average feed rate and the welding rate, or the wire deposition amount per unit of weld length. Further, in the event that the amplitude has changed, feedback control of the forward feed-side shift amount is carried out in such a way that the average value of the feed rate is constant. In so doing, the feed rate cycle and amplitude are always set to optimal values.