NutraWave: Full Shopify Audit & Store Optimization

NutraWave needed a full audit and optimization of both storefronts to improve conversion rates, page speed, SEO discoverability, and checkout reliability across four international markets. Additionally, they needed a scalable way to manage rich product data (COA PDFs, benefits, FAQs) and a custom recommendation quiz to guide customers to the right products.

• Mobile page speed score of 57/100 with an LCP of 16.9s — well below the 2.5s threshold

• All homepage images (including the hero banner) had loading=lazy applied, killing above-the-fold LCP

• No structured data / schema markup in place across any page type

• App stack had grown organically with redundant and performance-impacting installs

• Shopify Markets configured with subdomain-based URLs (us.nutra-wave.com) causing SEO fragmentation and Orbe geolocation conflicts

• Product metafields (COA PDFs, rich text benefits, FAQs, ingredient details) managed manually with no pipeline

• No product recommendation logic — customers had no guided path to the right SKU

• Multiple code issues: deprecated img_url Liquid filter used in 4 files, unclosed <span> in cart template, blocking stylesheets loading on every PDP regardless of media type, dead CSS selectors in custom.css, and a QuizKit mutation observer running on every page globally

The engagement ran in three phases: a comprehensive technical audit, a prioritized implementation across all identified areas, and a post-implementation report.

Phase 1 — Audit
Delivered a full written audit covering 10 sections with severity-rated findings (Critical / High / Medium / Low) and effort estimates per item. Sections included: theme & code quality, page speed & Core Web Vitals, SEO (technical & on-page), app stack review, UX/UI & conversion, Shopify Markets & currency, analytics & tracking, checkout configuration, and mobile experience.

Phase 2 — Implementation

Page Speed & Core Web Vitals:

• Removed loading=lazy from all above-the-fold images (hero, logo) and replaced with fetchpriority="high" and proper preloading

• Implemented conditional loading for plyr.min.css and shopify-model-viewer-ui.min.css — only loaded on PDPs with video/3D media

• Deferred the QuizKit mutation observer script to load only on quiz result pages instead of globally

• Replaced deprecated img_url Liquid filter across 4 template files with image_url: width: X

• Fixed unclosed <span> in template--cart.liquid

SEO & Schema Markup:

• Implemented structured data across PDPs (Product schema), collection pages (BreadcrumbList), and site-wide (Organization)

• Audited and corrected meta titles and descriptions across both storefronts

• Cleaned up heading hierarchy (H1/H2/H3) across key page templates

• Validated canonical tags, robots.txt, and sitemap.xml

• Added descriptive alt text pipeline across product images

Shopify Markets Migration:

• Migrated from subdomain architecture (us.nutra-wave.com) to Shopify subfolder structure (/en-us/, /en-au/, /de-de/)

• Configured four active markets: Canada, United States, Australia, Germany — each with correct currency (CAD, USD, AUD, EUR) and language settings

• Set us.nutra-wave.com as a "Redirecting domain" to preserve existing traffic and SEO equity

• Reconfigured Orbe Geolocation to sync with the new subfolder-based market URLs

Metafields Pipeline (Node.js):

• Built a 4-script Node.js automation pipeline to populate rich product metafields from a Google Sheet:

  • OAuth token acquisition via Authorization Code Grant (local server on port 3456)

  • COA PDF downloader from Google Drive via xlsx hyperlink extraction

  • Staged PDF upload to Shopify Files via stagedUploadsCreate → multipart POST → fileCreate

  • Main uploader handling rich text JSON conversion, file GID resolution, and token-based fuzzy product matching

• Successfully committed 47 products with text, NPN, FAQ, COA, and rich benefit fields

Product Recommendation Quiz:

• Architected a metaobject-driven recommendation quiz using two custom metaobject types: quiz_question and quiz_rule

• Built wildcard-based rule matching system with priority scoring

• Seeded 4 questions and 26 rules via Node.js scripts

• Rendered entirely server-side via page.quiz.liquid — no client-side API calls or token exposure

App Stack Cleanup:

• Audited all installed apps for redundancy and performance impact

• Removed/disabled apps injecting scripts on pages where they provided no function

• Documented remaining app stack with performance notes

• Hero LCP reduced from 16.9s to target range via image loading fix and preloading

• Schema markup implemented across all page types (zero → full coverage)

• Shopify Markets migrated from subdomain to subfolder — cleaner SEO structure and correct geolocation

• 47 products fully enriched with metafields via automated pipeline (eliminated hours of manual data entry)

• Custom quiz live with 26 recommendation rules — guided path to product for all customer profiles

• App stack cleaned and documented

• All Liquid code issues resolved (deprecated filters, unclosed tags, blocking assets)

The NutraWave engagement delivered measurable improvements across performance, SEO, and operational efficiency. Mobile page speed was significantly improved by resolving critical image loading errors (hero LCP dropped from 16.9s), structured schema markup was deployed across all PDPs and collection pages for the first time, and Shopify Markets was successfully migrated from a fragmented subdomain architecture to a clean subfolder structure across 4 international markets (CA, US, AU, DE). A custom Node.js pipeline eliminated manual metafield entry for 47 products, and a metaobject-driven recommendation quiz with 26 rules launched to guide customers to the right supplement. The result is a faster, more discoverable, and more conversion-ready storefront built to scale across multiple markets.