title: Why do some websites have ?utf8=✓ in their title?
body: <p>I've noticed that a lot of websites, when searching or just browsing, will add a get variable called <code>utf</code> and set it equal to a check mark (<code>?utf8=✓</code>).</p>
  
  <p>Two examples are:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Dotabuff has its search URL include it. Example: dotabuff.com/search?utf8=✓&amp;q=PPD</p></li>
  <li><p>Bibme also has its search URL include it. Example: bibme.org/mla/website-citation/search?utf8=✓&amp;q=someurl.com</p></li>
  </ul>