Arkansas is home to the highest-rated Walmart stores in the United States, according to an analysis of Google Maps data by search engine optimization experts at SEO Backlinks.
The analysis, based on the average of all Google Maps ratings for U.S. Walmart stores as of Monday, showed that stores in Arkansas had the highest average rating of 4.09 stars.
Google allows users to rate registered locations and businesses on Google Maps on a one-to-five star scale. Attempts to reach Walmart Wednesday for comment were unsuccessful.
The sample included 4,550 Walmart stores open on Monday that had at least 500 Google reviews at the time of the analysis. It included Supercenter, Neighborhood Market and other Walmart stores, while excluding pickup points, delis and duplicate addresses.
Nationally, Texas stores ranked second to Arkansas with an average 4.08-star rating. Mississippi was third with 4.05 stars, the analysis said.
The top Walmart locations in Arkansas were the Prince Street Neighborhood Market in Conway with an average of 4.46 stars, the North Main Street. Neighborhood Market in Bentonville with a 4.46 star rating, and the Linwood Drive Neighborhood Market in Paragould with 4.42 stars, the analysis said.
“Walmart stores stock much the same shelves at much the same prices, so the score on Google comes down to the people and the upkeep. Reviewers at the top of the list keep saying the same things, that the store is clean, the staff are friendly and someone helps you find what you need,” said Oliver Weston, founder of SEO Backlinks.
According to the analysis, two of Walmart’s Arkansas stores were ranked in the national top 10. Those stores were the smaller Neighborhood Markets rather than Supercenter stores. The lowest-rated qualifying Walmart in Arkansas was the Baseline Road Supercenter in Little Rock, the report said.
In Arkansas, the top 10 rated locations were all Neighborhood Market stores, while the 10 bottom raked locations were all Supercenter stores.
Craig Geiger, director of the Master of Science in Marketing Program for the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, said it could make sense that store locations closer to a company’s headquarters that have higher visibility to executives would have higher ratings.
“You might say Walmart can see some higher ratings, customer ratings, in their Arkansas stores, because of the proximity to headquarters and because it might be a testing environment for some new concepts and things that customers like,” Geiger said.
Geiger said the SEO Backlinks report, or any study measuring online review data, should be wary of things like bots that can skew data.
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