A Performance-First Redesign for The Golden Balance
Transforming a Squarespace site by leveraging Next.js to achieve a 266% performance increase and perfect SEO scores.
Mobile Performance
Before
27
After
99
266% improvement
Desktop Performance
Before
36
After
100
178% improvement
SEO Score
Before
77
After
100
30% improvement
The Challenge
As a huge fan of The Golden Balance, their 'Marry Me Chicken' recipe is a staple in my household. Because I use the site regularly, I noticed several pain points that are common on template-based platforms like Squarespace.
When searching for "Marry Me Chicken The Golden Balance" on Google, users were taken to the recipe search page rather than the specific recipe they wanted. The mobile navigation and recipe filtering system was unintuitive, making it difficult to find content quickly.
A Lighthouse audit confirmed these suspicions, revealing critical performance bottlenecks that were hurting both user experience and search engine discoverability.
Key Pain Points
- Poor search engine landing - users couldn't find specific recipes directly
- Slow mobile performance (27/100 Lighthouse score)
- Unintuitive recipe filtering and navigation flow
- Suboptimal SEO scores affecting recipe discoverability
Users expect to land on the specific recipe page from a direct search.
The full-screen navigation provided no intuitive way for users to close it.
A large sticky header covered important page content on mobile.
The filter's 'close' button was inaccessible when the mobile keyboard was active.
Original mobile Lighthouse scores: 27 Performance, 77 SEO.
The Solution
Rather than just identify problems, I decided to demonstrate solutions by building a fully functional demo. I rebuilt the recipes page using modern web technologies, focusing on three core areas: performance, user experience, and search engine optimization.
The approach was to leverage enterprise-grade technologies I use in my work at GM to create a lightning-fast, intuitive interface that solved the core problems of the original Squarespace site.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
Used Next.js to pre-render pages on the server, delivering fully-formed HTML for instant loads and perfect SEO indexing.
Mobile-First Responsive Design
Rebuilt the UI with Tailwind CSS, creating an intuitive recipe browsing experience optimized for mobile users.
Advanced Performance Optimization
Eliminated render-blocking resources, optimized images with lazy loading, and implemented code splitting to drastically improve Core Web Vitals.
Enhanced Recipe Discovery
Improved the filtering and search functionality to help users find recipes faster and more intuitively.
The Results
The demo achieved near-perfect Lighthouse scores across all metrics. These improvements translate to real business value: faster loading times mean better user engagement, perfect SEO scores improve search rankings, and the enhanced mobile experience serves the majority of recipe searchers who browse on their phones.
Business Impact
- Improved search engine rankings for recipe-related queries
- Faster page loads leading to higher user engagement and lower bounce rates
- Better mobile experience serving the majority of food blog traffic
- Enhanced recipe discoverability through improved site structure
The new mobile design achieved a near-perfect 99 performance score.
Total Blocking Time on mobile was cut from over 2,000ms to just 10ms.
On desktop, the performance score was a perfect 100/100.
A Modern User Experience
Beyond raw performance, the demo introduces critical UI/UX enhancements that solve the original site's usability problems. The goal was to create an intuitive, app-like experience without sacrificing the brand's aesthetic.
Key upgrades include: - Space-Saving Header: A modern header that disappears on scroll to maximize screen real estate. - Intuitive Navigation: A new side-sheet menu that is easily dismissed. - Functional Filtering: A redesigned, scalable filter modal that doesn't conflict with mobile keyboards.
The layout is clean, intuitive, and keeps the spirit of the original design.
The new header scrolls away to save space while keeping search accessible.
The redesigned filter modal is clean, functional, and keyboard-friendly.
The app-like side navigation is intuitive and easy to close.
The Outreach
This entire project began as a way to demonstrate value upfront. As someone who regularly uses The Golden Balance for recipes, I wanted to show rather than just tell how performance improvements could benefit their users. Here's the email I sent to their team:
Hi Team at The Golden Balance,
First off, I just want to say that my girlfriend and I are huge fans of your recipes, Marry Me Chicken is one of our go-tos!
I'm Luis, a software engineer at GM where I build enterprise-grade applications. I noticed the mobile site can sometimes feel slow and unintuitive to navigate.
For example, when I searched for "Marry Me Chicken The Golden Balance" in Google I was linked to your site but not the recipe I was searching for.
Once on the site, the recipe filtering flow was also a bit tricky to follow. Out of curiosity, I ran a Lighthouse audit on your /recipes page. Here were the results:
• Mobile: Performance 27/100, SEO 77/100 • Desktop: Performance 36/100, SEO 77/100
Since SEO and performance can really boost discoverability (especially for recipe searches), I put together a quick demo reworking the /recipes page. Using modern web practices, I was able to achieve:
• Mobile: Performance 99/100, SEO 100/100 • Desktop: Performance 100/100, SEO 100/100
I've attached before/after screenshots with Lighthouse scores for comparison. You can view the demo live here: https://demo-golden-balance.vercel.app/recipes
This was just a fun side project, so I'd be happy to share the code with y'all. I'd also love to work with you on bringing these kinds of improvements (better SEO, faster load times, and a smoother recipe search flow) into your full site.
Either way, thank you for all the content you put out. Your recipes have been a big part of our kitchen adventures, and this was just my way of showing appreciation.
Best, Luis