Google Webmaster Tools is a great way to view reports about your pages’ visibility on Google, submit your sitemap and tweak settings to control how your site is indexed by Google. Also, if you want your website to rank faster, we strongly recommend signing up and submitting your site as soon as it’s finished. Before you can start using Google Webmaster Tools you must verify you are the owner/administrator of the domain that you are trying to add. Different verification options are: domain name provider, HTML file upload, HTML meta tag and Google Analytics.
This video with Maile Ohye released by Google Webmaster Tools talks about site verification.
“Verifying ownership of your site in Webmaster Tools provides you and Google a secure channel for giving and receiving information,” says Ohye. “For example, Google can show you more confidential information, such as the search queries that bring visitors to your site, and by verifying ownership, you’ll have privileges to do things like adjust targeting settings to associate your site with the audience of a particular country.”