Don't clutter your file system with html files for google file verification.
Plugin for Pico, also see their Github Repository https://github.com/gilbitron/Pico
copy the php file in your plugin folder
Start your Site verification process here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
Add the following line to your config.php
$config['google_site_verification'] = "38t230t2uvr812v1892vr9vr.html"; // use the filename you got from google!
Now your website can be verified by google webmaster tools.
22.02.2014 First release