TL;DR: Marketo (Adobe Marketo Engage) isn’t officially blocked in China, but when websites and landing pages use Marketo assets, such as forms and tracking scripts, performance is often unreliable without a China-specific setup. Pages that embed Marketo forms and scripts can stall due to its offshore hosted servers, heavy client-side JavaScript, and slow/blocked third-party resources that neither changing the server host nor adding a CDN resolves. A China-based or near-China CDN can help with delivery proximity but won’t fix issues relating to third-party assets. ICP applies only when you use onshore infrastructure or a China-based CDN that requires it. To optimize your site for China, Chinafy layers onto your existing stack to detect and handle slow or blocked resources and route China traffic to an optimized version of your site without a rebuild.

What is Marketo?

Marketo, or Adobe Marketo Engage, is an AI-powered marketing automation platform for building, personalizing, and measuring omnichannel campaigns from a single hub. Features include:

Marketo’s Munchkin script tracks visits and clicks on your pages.

Forms 2.0 lets you embed Marketo forms directly on your site and manage them centrally.

Landing pages can use a branded CNAME (e.g., go.example.com) that CNAMEs to Marketo’s infrastructure*.

*Note: the infrastructure used for Marketo Engage assets is not specified by Adobe, but is likely using Adobe Experience Platform Edge Network, which has servers in North America, Europe, and APAC, not including China.

Does Marketo work in mainland China?

Technically, yes, but, with limitations. Adobe’s Marketo platform is not officially blocked in mainland China, but its performance is hindered when used as part of a website. Many of the assets it relies on (like tracking scripts, third-party fonts, and embedded forms hosted on Adobe/Marketo servers) are hosted outside China and are often routed through China's state-affiliated ISPs with limited international interconnectivity.

Why Marketo-embedded pages struggle in China

Overseas hosting: Adobe’s servers are located outside China. The effects of location and distance are emphasized and more extreme than other markets given China’s internet ecosystem infrastructure leading to high latency.

Blocked/throttled resources: Dependencies like Google Fonts and tracking scripts are often blocked or delayed.

Heavy use of JavaScript: Pages rely on scripts that may not load correctly in China.

Forms and tracking: forms and tracking that load from slow-loading Marketo domains or Marketo tracking domains can often leave empty form containers or missing analytics.

How to make Marketo-powered pages work in China

To make any website work in China, there are two key components to consider: its infrastructure and its code.

On the infrastructure side, a near-China or China-based CDN can improve loading speeds as static assets will be delivered from a node closer to the end user. However, as is the case with onshore hosting, a China CDN only solves part of the problem with cross-border China web performance. A CDN, no matter the locations of its Points of Presence (PoPs), does not handle third-party resources on the code-based side, which are often the primary technical reason why a Marketo site performs poorly in mainland China.

Chinafy offers a solution to make your website work faster and fuller in mainland China.

Here’s how Chinafy works:

Generates a version of your website for China visitors without affecting your current site.

Combines both in-person and platform-level features to detect and replace blocked or slow resources that cause loading delays.

If you're hosting offshore, Chinafy routes China-IP-based traffic to the China-optimized version of your site. If you're already hosting onshore, all your traffic will see the optimized version for China visitors.

Chinafy then keeps your China-optimized site in sync with your global one, so any content changes are reflected accordingly.

Note: Chinafy does not work with websites that are officially blocked or inaccessible in China.

How to check your Marketo pages from China

You can use Chinafy’s Global Speed Test and Visual Speed Test to test any representative page (for example, with a Marketo Engage form or tracking). Compare Beijing/Shanghai/Guangzhou metrics with your global baseline to see both time‑to‑first‑byte and page‑complete behavior.

When you need an ICP filing or commercial license

Businesses differ in terms of its requirements when operating or marketing to Mainland China, with variables including industry, information collection and more. Specific to hosting in China, an ICP filing or license is legally required if you host or use any servers inside of mainland China or use a China-based CDN. This requirement applies to any website that is physically hosted within China or utilizes China-based infrastructure - regardless of the marketing tech stack being used.

Websites using Adobe Marketo Engage, be it in lead generation forms or analytics tracking, typically struggle to load in mainland China. Despite Marketo not being blocked itself, the use of third-party assets is a common reason for poor web performance in China due to China’s unique internet setup. Chinafy can address the underlying reasons why your site is struggling to load fully in China and optimize your pages without affecting your existing site.

If you’re looking for ways to make your Marketo-powered website or landing pages work in mainland China, contact Chinafy for a website evaluation.