Sudden, drastic changes in bounce rate. What could have caused this?

Question

I have been working with a website that has had a consistent bounce rate around 50-60%. A couple weeks ago, the bounce rate dropped significantly to 2-6% for about a two week span. Recently, it has shot back up to around 50%.

I have not made any big changes to the website, I checked for duplicate ga.js loading, etc. But I can't figure out how this could have happened.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I may be able to track this down?

Thank you.

Answer 1

First check if there was any corresponding fluctuation in other stats like pageviews or visits. It may not be an anomaly. Your bounce rate may have come down.

Next, determine if any events were added during that time to non-interactive events. See Event tracking implementation considerations.

Finally, if it was event tracking that did it, you can eliminate event tracking from affecting bounce rate by adding the non-interactive parameter.