Inconsistencies due to dynamic and personalized content

Ads, popups, carousels, cookie banners, geolocation content, and A/B tests can load differently on each scan, which changes the issues detected.

Content that varies between scan runs is one of the most common causes of a changing issue count. The two causes below both change what the scanner sees on the page.

Dynamic content

Dynamic content like ads, popups, and carousels can cause a website to behave differently at different times. Even cookie consent banners and network speed might cause changes in a website. Such differences during different scan runs can cause changes to issue count reported by BrowserStack Accessibility Testing.

Affected products

All products in BrowserStack Accessibility Testing can show changes to issue count if dynamic content exists on your website.

These products are:

• Workflow Analyzer
• Website Scanner
• Automated tests

Remediation

Retry the scan to check whether the issue persists.

If the issue persists, follow these steps to avoid changes to issue count:

• If your website has a cookie consent banner and you use Website Scanner, add Cookie Configuration settings when you create a scan. This avoids differences due to cookie settings.
• Manually trigger popups, modals, and dynamic sections before rescanning if needed.
• If possible, lock dynamic content to a static state before scanning.
• If these steps don’t work, consider ignoring differences due to dynamic content.

Add cookie settings from the Cookie Configuration option when you create a new scan:

Personalized content

Geolocation-based content, A/B test variations, or session-based personalization can cause different pages or elements to load during scans. This can cause an inconsistency in the number of issues reported.

Affected products

All products in BrowserStack Accessibility Testing can show changes to issue count if personalized content exists on your website.

These products are:

• Workflow Analyzer
• Website Scanner
• Automated tests

Remediation

Retry the scan to check whether the issue persists.

If the issue persists, follow these steps to avoid changes to issue count:

• Check if personalization scripts or testing frameworks were active during the scans.
• Consider standardizing scan conditions or disabling A/B testing when you test accessibility.

Related topics

• Diagnose inconsistencies in issue counts
• Inconsistencies due to website updates
• Configure scan settings on Website Scanner