american english - Looking for the correct sentence

I'm quite confused right now. I'm not sure if this sentence makes any sense, so please help me out.
Is it correct to say:

"Before I started looking for suggestions on reddit, I browsed the

"explore" and "recommendations" section on goodreads."

Or:

"Before I started looking for suggestions on reddit, I was browsing
the "explore" and "recommendations" section on goodreads."

I would also love to know which tense I'm using, since figuring that out is one of my weaknesses.

Answer

Both are grammatically possible, but the second is semantically improbable, and so sounds like an erroneous attempt at saying the first.

The 'I browsed' in:

"Before I started looking for suggestions on reddit, I browsed the
"explore" and "recommendations" section on goodreads."

is in the Simple Past tense, referring to a completed action in a time before now.

The 'I was browsing' in:

"Before I started looking for suggestions on reddit, I was browsing the
"explore" and "recommendations" section on goodreads."

is in the Past Continuous tense, referring to a action in a time before now, either incomplete or with no definite point of completion.

"Before Jill visited, I baked some cakes" implies that I had finished baking the cakes before she arrived, and probably, that I baked the cakes for her.

"Before Jill visited, I was baking some cakes" implies that Jill interrupted my baking, and I set it aside to entertain her.

Since it is very likely that you mean you had abandoned looking for suggestions in "goodreads" before turning to "reddit", the Simple Past seems more natural.