Re: verification file

Your error page probably returns 200 instead of 404 (as it should) -
you can test it here: http://gsitecrawler.com/tools/Server-Status.aspx
and find more information on the 404/200 issue here:
http://gsitecrawler.com/articles/error-404-200.asp

It's not just something Google made up, it's the standard. The other
search engines have problems with these kinds of things as well, Google
is just the one to put it on the "front page" :-). Also -- without this
check it is not possible to verify that you are the site owner (with
the current system, since any validation-file that Google would want
will return 200 "ok" - even if it does not exist - if anyone else
decides to add your site to their statistics).

Cheers
John