Imagine your website is a physical store. Google Tag Manager (GTM) is like an advanced "camera system" that observes visitors when they enter your store and notifies your "partners" (such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, or Meta) about what those visitors do. For example, GTM can simply notify when a visitor arrives or provide more detailed insights, like tracking the areas they visit, the products they view, the items in their cart, or whether they complete a purchase or submit a form. However, it’s important to note that GTM itself does not analyze the data. Instead, it enables the tools you connect to it—like Google Analytics or Facebook Ads Manager—to perform the analysis and give you insights. Think of GTM as the messenger, not the decision-maker. The great part? Instead of installing a separate system for each of your partners, you install one GTM system and configure it to notify all your tools as needed. How GTM Works: Tags: Tags are the connections between GTM and your partners. Each tag sends specific information (like clicks, purchases, or video plays) to tools like Google Analytics or Meta Ads. Triggers: Triggers are the actions you want to monitor, such as a visitor clicking a button, submitting a form, or scrolling down a page. Variables: Variables are like reusable templates or placeholders for information. For example, you can store your Google Analytics ID in a variable and reference it across multiple tags. If the ID changes, you only need to update the variable once, and all related tags will update automatically. To set it up, you install a JavaScript tag on your website. Then, by configuring triggers, tags, and variables, you can track visitor behavior and share that data with the tools you use to analyze it. More on reddit.com

If you're comfortable adding tags to your site manually, you 100% DO NOT need GTM, and furthermore, I would say you're better off. It may save you time, but GTM often makes it too easy to add tags, and it adds a lot of javascript bloat to the site and starts affecting load times. I use it as a way to test out new things, but if it's code I know I am going to be keeping permanent, I move it to hard code. Where GTM is great is for non-coders to be able to easily measure conversions by creating events and specifying triggers. But if you know how to push information to the data layer without GTM, you really don't need it. More on reddit.com

Dude get a small domain and hosting probably costs you like 10 bucks, get the cheapest in the market. You can install a basic wordpress website theme to try tracking forms and further data. Ecommerce themes are also available for free, try to install to learn the basic Ecom tracking. Stop expecting a random stranger to hand you their website so that you could learn. I'm sorry this might be the rudest comment you received today. TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR OWN LEARNING More on reddit.com

It’s free, so yes.

The time needed to get GTM up and running is negligible and gives you way more control over tracking pretty much anything you need to.

Purchase? Done. Form submission? Tick. Scroll depth? Straightforward.

You can then push the data into GA / Ads / FB / wherever you want to, and customise it however you want.

There’s a bit of a learning curve for the more complex stuff (if you know JS you’ve got a huge head start) but the basics are really easy.

Finally, if you want to get really good just read Simo’s blog (simoahava.com).

More on reddit.com