Techniques for improved handoff searching in asynchronous systems, such as W-CDMA, are disclosed. In one aspect, a two-step search procedure is used when a list of neighbor codes is known. In the first step, a received signal is correlated with a slot timing code to locate on or more pilots and the slot boundaries associated therewith. In the second step, the received signal is correlated with each of the list of codes at the slot boundaries identified with pilots in the first step to identify the pilot code and the frame timing associated with each pilot. Various other aspects of the invention are also presented. These aspects have the benefit of decreasing search time, which translates to increased acquisition speed, higher quality signal transmission, increased data throughput, decreased power, and improved overall system capacity.