Marketo new Updates: Don’t Miss This

Marketo's quiet API breaks, ChatGPT's new image ads, LinkedIn's AI slop filter, Google's auto-promotions and a Search Console alert for rogue subdomains.

Author

Code Peddle
October 13, 2026

Hey there, Digital Marketing Rockstars! 🎸

Manmeet here, this week is all about defaults. The settings, switches and quiet changes that happen inside your stack while nobody's watching. Marketo changed its API rules weeks ago, Google turned on a promotions feature this Monday, and LinkedIn now runs a machine over every post that leaves your network. None of it sent you a calendar invite.

So let's look at what moved under your feet, and what to do about it.

In today's email:

1. Marketo's new look, and the API changes hiding behind it. 📈
2. ChatGPT is about to start showing image ads. 🤖
3. LinkedIn's AI slop filter now covers every post that travels beyond your network.💡
4. Google Ads now writes promotions from your website, unless you say no. 👀
5. A new Search Console alert for subdomains that go their own way on AI. 🌐

Marketing Automation

Marketo's New Interface Is Rolling Out. The Real Story Is Underneath.

Adobe's September release gives Marketo Engage a refreshed interface with new menus, icons and layout, with general availability expected by mid-October. Adobe says the change is visual only, and you can still switch back to the Classic UI through the January 2027 release. The same release notes confirm two API changes that are already live, plus the retirement of Grab Images from Web in the October release.

Our Hot Take:
Everyone will talk about the new look. Look at the plumbing instead. Since September 30, any Get Lead Activities or Get Lead Changes call that points at a static list of 10,000 or more leads fails with a 1003 error, and the access_token query parameter was deprecated back on August 31. If someone built a sync, a BI pull or a scoring script two years ago and then left the company, there's a decent chance it has been failing quietly for weeks. A new UI is like repainting a house. Nice, but you'd still want to know if the pipes are leaking. This week, pull your integration logs for 1003 errors and search your scripts for "access_token". Then let your team try the new UI while Classic is still one click away, so January doesn't land as a surprise.

Content Marketing

ChatGPT Is Becoming an Ad Network. Don't Buy In Before You Can Measure It.

OpenAI announced a visual ad format for ChatGPT, with a US test starting later this month for a select group of advertisers. The first ads will appear alongside images people ask ChatGPT to generate, clearly labeled and kept separate from the generated image. OpenAI is also working with Haus, Measured and WorkMagic on geo-based experiments, and with DoubleVerify and IAS on brand suitability pilots.

Our Hot Take:
Treat this like any new channel that arrives with a huge number on the slide. ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion people a week, and you'll see that figure in every pitch deck this quarter. Reach was never the hard part, though. Hardly anyone asks ChatGPT to generate a picture of their compliance software or onboarding workflow, so this first format will probably suit retail and lifestyle brands far better than most B2B teams. The part worth watching is the measurement work. OpenAI lining up incrementality partners tells you it knows advertisers will ask, "Did this actually cause a sale?" You should be asking the same thing. Before anyone on your team asks for budget, write down what a test would need to prove and how you'd measure it. If you can't do that in one paragraph, you're not ready to spend.

Social Media Marketing / PPC

LinkedIn Now Flags AI Slop With 94% Precision. Is Your Company Page Feeding It?

LinkedIn's VP of Engineering, Tim Jurka, explained how the platform detects AI slop, which LinkedIn defines as generic or repetitive posts that add no real insight. Large "teacher" models train smaller ones to spot new slop patterns, and AI agents each enforce a specific content policy. The classifiers now cover every post distributed beyond your immediate network, with 94% precision.

Our Hot Take:
This is the moment to stop treating "post more" as a strategy. More than a million people reported AI slop within three weeks of LinkedIn adding the button in August, and LinkedIn says it has already cut views of that content by 40%. Out-of-network reach is where B2B brands meet new buyers, and it's now the part of the feed with the strictest filter. A post that could have come from any vendor in your category reads as slop, whether a person typed it or a model did. Pull your last ten company posts and read them out loud. For each one, ask a single question: does this say something only we could say? Rewrite or bin the ones that don't, and keep AI on drafting duty, not in charge of your point of view.

Google Ads Started Writing Your Promotions This Week. Did You Approve That?

Google Ads automatically pulls promotions such as coupons and deals from your website and adds them to eligible campaigns. It applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets that don't already have promotion assets attached. You can turn it off in your account-level automated assets settings.

Our Hot Take:
Default-on features deserve a five-minute check, every time. Google is now reading your landing pages and deciding which offers are good enough to put in your ads. That's fine if your site is tidy. It's a problem if there's an expired event discount on an old page, or a partner-only price your sales team never meant to advertise. Think of it as a new hire writing ad copy by skimming your website. Probably fine. Still worth a look. Open your account-level automated assets settings today and decide on purpose whether Automated promotions stays on. If you keep it, filter your assets for "Google AI" in the Added by column each week, so you always know what's running under your name.

SEO

Who Decides Whether Your Site Shows Up in Google's AI Answers? Search Console Now Tells You.

Google updated the help document for the Search generative AI control in Search Console. Owners of a top-level domain property will now see a notification on the control page when one of their child properties overrides the parent setting. The control itself is already available globally.

Our Hot Take:
Most SEO pain is ownership pain dressed up as a ranking problem, and this update is a good example. Picture a typical B2B setup: marketing owns the main domain, product owns the docs, support owns the help center, and each can be its own property. If one team changes how Google's AI features can use its content and nobody else hears about it, half your site ends up in AI answers and half doesn't. Then comes the meeting where everyone asks why. The new notification works like a smoke alarm. It won't put the fire out, but at least you'll know where it started. This week, open the control on your top-level property, list every child property under it, and write down who owns each one. Agree on one default, and make every exception a decision someone actually signed off on.

Related Blog:
Top Content Marketing Strategies for Local SEO: AEO, GEO & SEO in Action

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Tip of the Week

Pick one default in your stack that changed without you choosing it, and make a real decision about it this week. It might be a Google Ads setting, a Search Console control or an old Marketo integration nobody has looked at since it was built. One switch, checked properly, beats ten you meant to get around to.💡

Summary:

Here is the quick recap.

  • Marketing Automation: Marketo's new UI is the headline, but check your integrations for 1003 errors and old access_token calls first. 📈

  • Content: ChatGPT image ads start testing in the US this month. Decide how you would measure a test before you fund one. 🤖

  • Social: LinkedIn now filters AI slop on every post that leaves your network, so make each company post say something only you could say.💡

  • PPC: Google Ads automated promotions switched on October 12. Choose on purpose whether to keep them. 👀

  • SEO: Search Console now flags subdomains that override your AI setting. Map who owns each property. 🌐

Meme of the Week