ChatGPT answers, unedited

If you mean a tool that connects to your YouTube channel, automatically finds older videos that still have growth potential (“evergreen” videos), and tells you what to re-optimize first, these are the closest options:

For this specific workflow:

“Find my hidden evergreen winners → rank which ones to refresh → tell me what to change”

I’d look first at:

1. vidIQ Channel Audit / AI Coach — strongest general-purpose option for connected channel analysis and prioritized recommendations. vidIQ vidIQ
2. TubeToolkit Analytics — if your main requirement is explicitly spotting evergreen videos. TubeToolkit
3. YTGrowth — if you want a more audit-like “top fixes first” report. YTGrowth

A good evergreen detection model usually looks for videos with signals like:

• steady views per day/week long after publishing
• high search traffic share
• strong watch time relative to channel average
• high retention but declining impressions (often a refresh opportunity)
• topics that remain relevant but have outdated packaging

If you tell me your channel size, niche, and whether you care more about SEO/search traffic, browse recommendations, or revenue, I can narrow down the best tool.

If you mean “connect my YouTube channel, automatically find older videos that still have durable demand, then tell me which ones are worth updating first,” vidIQ is probably the closest off-the-shelf fit.

Best fit: vidIQ

vidiq.com can analyze your existing channel and surface:

• Videos with strong ongoing performance using views/hour, watch time, retention, subscriber growth, and traffic sources.
• Underperforming videos that have optimization opportunities.
• Specific optimization issues involving titles, thumbnails, descriptions, tags, cards, end screens, and playlists.
• Recommendations for improving existing videos rather than only generating ideas for new ones. vidIQ vidIQ

The important caveat: “evergreen” isn't a native YouTube metric. I'd define it algorithmically—for example, videos that are old enough to have stabilized but continue generating meaningful Search/Suggested/Browse traffic, views, and watch time without relying on a short-lived spike.

If you want the most accurate system

YouTube Studio itself gives you the underlying data needed to build a better evergreen detector. Advanced Mode lets you filter, group, compare, and export video performance, including traffic sources and metrics such as CTR, views, watch time, and average view duration. Google Help Google Help

A useful automated priority model would look something like:

Evergreen score

• - Search traffic continuing over 90–365 days
• - Stable monthly views
• - High watch time/retention
• - Topic isn't obviously seasonal
• - Video is 6–24+ months old
• - Recent performance hasn't collapsed

Re-optimization opportunity

• High evergreen score
• Low/declining CTR → thumbnail/title candidate
• Good CTR but declining retention → intro/content candidate
• Strong search traffic but weak CTR → packaging candidate
• Strong video but weak internal traffic → end-screen/playlist candidate
• High impressions but low CTR → particularly interesting packaging opportunity

That produces a much more useful output than simply “these are your top videos.”

So, in short: use vidIQ if you want something ready-made; use YouTube Studio + an automated scoring layer if you want a genuinely custom “evergreen → opportunity → priority” system. YouTube explicitly recommends examining CTR together with impressions and traffic source rather than interpreting CTR in isolation. Google Help

If you tell me roughly how many videos are on your channel, I can also suggest the simplest setup for automatically ranking all of them into “update now / monitor / leave alone.”

If you mean “scan my whole YouTube channel, find older videos that still have durable demand, and tell me which ones are worth re-optimizing first,” I’d pick vidIQ.

• vidiq.com — closest match. It analyzes channel performance, identifies strong and weak videos, examines traffic sources/search terms, and provides optimization recommendations for titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• vidiq.com — useful for turning that data into a prioritized action plan; it can identify why a video stalled and recommend what to change. vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — good alternative, with retention analysis, video-level recommendations, and an Opportunity Finder. TubeBuddy

One caveat: neither tool literally defines “evergreen” as a single automatic metric. The best approach is to identify videos with sustained historical views/search traffic, then rank them by current impressions × CTR opportunity × search demand × retention × age. YouTube Studio itself exposes the underlying traffic-source, search-term, impressions, CTR, and watch-time data. support.google.com support.google.com

My pick: vidIQ + YouTube Studio. If your goal is specifically “give me the top 10 old videos I should optimize this week,” vidIQ is probably the closest off-the-shelf tool.

If you mean a tool that connects to your YouTube channel, finds older videos that still have long-term potential (“evergreen” videos), and tells you what to optimize first, these are the strongest options:

My suggested workflow

1. Start with YouTube Studio data (your source of truth):

• Sort videos by: - views in the last 90–365 days
• search traffic %
• impressions
• watch time
• subscriber conversions
• Feed the top candidates into vidIQ or TubeBuddy:

• High views + old upload date → likely evergreen candidate
• High impressions + low CTR → thumbnail/title priority
• High CTR + low retention → content/hook priority
• High retention + declining traffic → refresh metadata or packaging
• Prioritize videos where:

• They already get steady traffic
• The topic is still relevant
• A small packaging change could unlock more clicks

For a creator with a large back catalog, I’d usually start with vidIQ for automated prioritization and TubeBuddy for hands-on optimization/testing. vidIQ TubeBuddy

If you mean an AI agent that automatically scans an entire channel and creates a ranked “refresh these 20 videos first” list, the tooling is less mature, but TubeToolkit and similar AI analytics products are moving in that direction. TubeToolkit

If you mean “scan my existing YouTube library, find videos that are still getting steady views, and tell me which ones are most worth updating first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidiq.com — best fit: Its Channel Audit analyzes your channel performance, including views, watch time, retention, subscriber growth, traffic sources, and top-performing videos, then surfaces optimization opportunities. Its AI Coach can turn that channel data into prioritized recommendations. vidIQ vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — strong alternative: Its analytics and Opportunity Finder identify videos with optimization opportunities and provide suggestions for improving views/engagement. It also has A/B testing for titles/thumbnails. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy

Important caveat: neither appears to have a single feature explicitly called “Evergreen Video Detector.” The practical approach is to identify videos with persistent views over time, then prioritize those with relatively weak packaging/SEO or obvious optimization gaps. vidIQ is closer to the “tell me what to fix first” workflow. vidIQ Help Center

If you want, I can also give you a specific workflow for finding your top 10 evergreen videos and ranking them by re-optimization ROI using YouTube Studio + one of these tools.

If you mean “scan my existing channel, find older videos that are still generating steady demand, then tell me which ones are most worth refreshing,” the closest fit right now is vidIQ.

• vidIQ Channel Audit analyzes channel performance, including views, watch time, retention, subscriber growth, traffic sources, and top-performing content, and surfaces optimization opportunities. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• Its Optimize tool lets you sort your videos by title/thumbnail scores and provides recommendations for improving those elements. vidIQ Help Center
• Its MCP integration is particularly interesting if you want an AI assistant to do the analysis conversationally: vidIQ says it can connect AI assistants to live channel/video data and analyze trends, titles, thumbnails, and creator analytics. vidIQ Help Center

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its analytics suite includes Videolytics, Retention Analyzer, and Opportunity Finder, which can surface videos with optimization opportunities. TubeBuddy

For your specific use case

I'd rank them:

1. vidIQ — best if you want automated prioritization + AI recommendations.
2. TubeBuddy — strong if you want SEO/optimization workflows and bulk channel management.
3. YouTube Studio alone — best source of raw data, but it doesn't automatically give you the same “here are the 10 evergreen videos you should re-optimize first” workflow. Google Help

One important distinction: “evergreen” isn't really a standard YouTube metric. I'd identify it from patterns such as sustained views over 6–24+ months, ongoing Search/Suggested traffic, stable watch time, and strong historical performance relative to newer uploads. Then prioritize videos where the underlying topic is still relevant but the packaging (title/thumbnail) or metadata is weak/outdated.

If you tell me your channel niche and roughly how many videos you have, I can also give you a specific automated workflow for finding and ranking your evergreen videos.

If you mean a tool that automatically finds evergreen videos already on your YouTube channel and tells you what to re-optimize first, look for a channel audit + content opportunity tool rather than a basic SEO keyword tool.

Good options:

• vidiq.com — Best all-around for channel optimization. Its optimization/audit features analyze existing videos and suggest improvements to titles, thumbnails, keywords, and SEO elements. It can help identify videos with optimization upside and prioritize fixes. vidIQ vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — Strong for finding optimization opportunities on existing uploads. Its Opportunity Finder and optimization tools can suggest changes based on performance signals and engagement data. TubeBuddy
• tubetoolkit.com — More focused on AI-driven analytics; it claims to identify evergreen content, rising videos, and optimization recommendations after connecting your channel. TubeToolkit
• ytgrowth.io — Built around AI channel audits with ranked priority fixes, including areas like traffic sources, CTR, and content performance signals. YTGrowth

For a practical workflow, I’d use:

1. Find evergreen winners - Sort videos by: - views per month (not lifetime views)
2. search traffic %
3. steady watch time over 90–365 days
4. subscriber conversion
5. Prioritize re-optimization - High impressions + low CTR → test new thumbnail/title
6. High retention + low discovery → improve SEO/title targeting
7. High watch time + outdated packaging → refresh metadata
8. Strong comments/questions → add chapters, updated description, pinned comment, or follow-up content

If you want the closest match to “automatically identify evergreen videos and give me a ranked re-optimization queue,” I’d start with vidIQ or TubeToolkit, then validate decisions inside YouTube Studio Analytics because your first-party data is the most reliable. TubeToolkit vidIQ

If you mean a tool that can scan your existing YouTube library, find videos that still have durable demand, and tell you which ones to optimize first, I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidIQ Channel Audit — analyzes your channel performance, including views, watch time, retention, subscribers gained, traffic sources, and identifies content to double down on or improve. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• vidIQ Optimize — lets you work through your existing videos and prioritize optimization around titles and thumbnails, with sorting by things such as lowest title/thumbnail scores. vidIQ Help Center
• vidIQ AI Coach — can turn the analytics into recommendations such as why a video stalled and what to change, rather than just giving you raw metrics. vidIQ
• vidIQ MCP is particularly interesting if you want to automate this with an AI workflow: it can expose vidIQ's YouTube data to ChatGPT/other AI assistants so you can ask for analyses of your channel and videos in natural language. vidIQ Help Center

For your specific use case

I'd define an “evergreen video” as something like:

Older video + continues generating views/watch time + has ongoing Search/Suggested traffic + topic remains relevant + has room for improved packaging.

YouTube Studio provides the underlying signals, including returning viewers, watch time, traffic sources, YouTube Search terms, and Suggested Videos. Google Help Google Help

Then I'd rank videos something like:

Evergreen potential × current traffic × optimization upside × business value

That produces a much more useful priority list than simply optimizing videos with the lowest SEO score.

Bottom line: vidIQ is probably the closest off-the-shelf tool to what you're describing, especially with its Channel Audit + Optimize + AI Coach/MCP combination. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center

If you tell me what kind of channel you have, I can also give you a concrete scoring system for automatically finding your top 10 re-optimization opportunities.

If you mean a tool that can scan your existing YouTube library, identify videos with durable/evergreen potential, and tell you what to optimize first, I’d pick vidiq.com.

• Best fit: vidIQ Channel Audit + Optimize. Its Channel Audit analyzes views, watch time, retention, subscribers gained, traffic sources, search terms, end-screen/card performance, and more. It also flags optimization issues across titles, descriptions, thumbnails, tags, playlists, cards, and end screens. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• For prioritization: vidIQ's Optimize feature lets you sort videos by things such as lowest title score and lowest thumbnail score, then provides recommended titles/thumbnails and optimization feedback. vidIQ Help Center
• For evergreen identification specifically: there isn't a magic “evergreen” flag I'd completely trust. I'd define evergreen candidates as older videos that continue generating meaningful views/search traffic and retention. YouTube Studio provides the underlying performance data, while vidIQ makes the analysis and optimization workflow much easier. Google Help Google Help

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Best Practice Audit scans titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists and gives specific fixes. TubeBuddy

My recommendation

vidIQ if your goal is:
Find evergreen winners → rank opportunities → decide what to re-optimize → get title/thumbnail recommendations

TubeBuddy if your goal is:
Audit the existing library → systematically fix metadata/channel best-practice issues

If you tell me what kind of YouTube channel you have and roughly how many videos are on it, I can also give you a concrete evergreen-video scoring formula (e.g. 0–100) that you can use to rank your backlog by highest expected ROI from re-optimization.

If you mean a tool that can scan your existing YouTube library, find videos that are still getting traction, and tell you which ones are worth re-optimizing first, my top pick is vidIQ.

• vidiq.com — probably the closest match. Its Channel Audit identifies top-performing content, traffic sources, search terms, retention, and optimization gaps across your channel. It also flags things like weak titles/descriptions, missing cards/end screens, thumbnails, and playlists. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• vidIQ AI Coach — useful for turning the audit into an actual priority list. It can analyze your channel context and give recommendations such as which videos to fix and how to improve their packaging. vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — a strong alternative, particularly for retention analysis and video-level performance recommendations. TubeBuddy

For "evergreen" specifically

Neither tool appears to have a magic "Evergreen Videos" button that perfectly identifies evergreen content. I'd define evergreen candidates using signals such as:

older video + consistent recent views + search traffic + stable retention + topic that hasn't become obsolete.

Then prioritize the candidates roughly like this:

1. High ongoing views + weak title/thumbnail → highest priority.
2. High search traffic + outdated title/description → very high priority.
3. Strong retention but declining impressions/CTR → test new packaging.
4. Evergreen topic with missing cards/end screen/playlists → easy win.
5. Evergreen video already performing strongly → don't change aggressively; optimize around it.

That's also consistent with YouTube's own guidance: performance depends heavily on whether viewers choose and enjoy the video, while Search considers relevance of the title, description, and video content. Google Help Google Help

So if your goal is specifically "show me the 10 old videos I should re-optimize first," I'd start with vidIQ Channel Audit + AI Coach. vidIQ vidIQ

If you tell me your channel niche and approximate number of videos, I can also give you a concrete scoring framework for automatically ranking your evergreen videos.

If you mean “scan my existing channel, find older videos that still have durable demand, then tell me which ones are worth updating first,” I’d pick vidIQ.

• vidiq.com — Best fit for this workflow. Its Channel Audit analyzes channel/video performance and surfaces actionable optimization opportunities, while its Optimize tool lets you compare optimization scores across your channel and prioritize weaker videos. Its AI Coach also uses your channel data to recommend what to fix first. vidIQ vidIQ vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — Better if you want more hands-on management of an existing video library. Its Best Practice Audit checks titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions and playlists; Opportunity Finder suggests specific optimization opportunities. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy

My recommendation

Use vidIQ if your goal is specifically “find my evergreen winners and prioritize re-optimization.” It gets closer to the intelligence layer you're describing.

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a dedicated button literally called “Evergreen Video Finder.” You'd be using their performance/traffic data and AI/audit capabilities to identify evergreen candidates. vidIQ vidIQ

A good automated priority score would be something like:

Evergreen potential × current search/browse demand × historical performance × optimization upside

That would let you produce a list such as “Update these 10 videos first”, rather than simply auditing every video equally.

If you mean “scan my existing YouTube library, find videos that are still getting steady views, then tell me which ones are most worth updating,” the closest fit is vidIQ.

• vidiq.com — Best fit for automated prioritization. Its Channel Audit analyzes channel performance, engagement, watch time, search terms, retention, and top-performing videos, and flags optimization opportunities such as titles/descriptions, missing cards/end screens, thumbnails, and playlists. vidIQ Help Center vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — Better for executing changes at scale. Its channel audit checks titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists, while its analytics/optimization tools help identify content driving views and subscribers. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy
• YouTube Studio is the source of truth for identifying the actual evergreen winners: older videos that continue receiving views, search traffic, watch time, and engagement. YouTube specifically notes that old videos can regain traction as interest in their topic increases or new viewers discover them. Google Help

What I'd choose

vidIQ + YouTube Studio is probably the strongest combination if your goal is:

Evergreen detection → opportunity scoring → re-optimization priority → suggested changes

One caveat: neither tool can perfectly label a video “evergreen” purely automatically. I would define an evergreen candidate as an older video with consistent recent traffic + sustained search/recommended impressions + a topic that hasn't become obsolete. Then prioritize videos where the content already has traction but the CTR, title, thumbnail, description, or internal linking has room to improve. YouTube itself frames optimization around appeal (CTR), engagement, and satisfaction/watch duration. Google Help

If you tell me what kind of channel you have and roughly how many videos are on it, I can give you a concrete scoring formula for automatically ranking your videos into “optimize now / monitor / leave alone.”

If you mean “automatically scan my existing YouTube library, find videos that are still generating interest, and tell me which ones are worth re-optimizing first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• support.vidiq.com — analyzes your channel and surfaces top-performing content, weak performers, retention, watch time, subscriber gains, traffic sources, and optimization issues. Its AI Coach can then turn the audit into prioritized recommendations. vidIQ Help Center vidIQ
• tubebuddy.com — useful for identifying individual videos with optimization opportunities and generating suggestions to improve views/engagement. TubeBuddy
• YouTube Studio Advanced Mode — best for the underlying data rather than automatic prioritization. You can compare videos, traffic sources, retention, time periods, and groups, which is useful for identifying genuinely evergreen videos yourself. Google Support Google Support

My pick

vidIQ is the closest match to what you're describing. In particular, I'd use a workflow like:

Evergreen candidate → current traffic → search/suggested traffic → CTR → retention → optimization gap → priority score

That lets you distinguish a video that's merely old from one that's old + still getting traffic + has obvious packaging/SEO upside.

If you want, I can also give you a specific “evergreen video re-optimization scorecard” (with the exact metrics and thresholds) that you can use to rank your entire channel.

If you mean “connect my YouTube channel, automatically find older videos that are still generating demand, then tell me which ones are worth updating first,” the closest fit is vidiq.com.

Its Channel Audit + AI Coach combination is particularly relevant:

• Finds strong/evergreen performers: Channel Audit surfaces videos with strong views, watch time, retention, subscriber gains, search terms, and traffic sources. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• Identifies optimization gaps: It checks titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidIQ Help Center
• Prioritizes what to fix: vidIQ's own audit framework recommends starting with quick-win enhancements and then re-optimizing top-performing videos because they already have traction. vidIQ
• AI recommendations: Its AI Coach uses your channel's performance context to suggest priorities and help improve titles/packaging. vidIQ

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Best Practice Audit automatically checks every video for eight areas, including title, description, thumbnail, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists. TubeBuddy

My pick

vidIQ if your goal is specifically “find my evergreen assets → rank re-optimization opportunities → tell me what to do.”

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a dedicated button literally called “Evergreen Video Detector.” The evergreen identification is something you'd infer from sustained historical performance, traffic sources/search demand, and current performance, then combine with the optimization audit.

If you want, I can also give you a specific scoring system (0–100) for automatically ranking your channel's videos by re-optimization ROI—including which metrics to use from YouTube Studio. developers.google.com

If you mean “find old videos that still have long-term potential, then tell me which ones to update first”, you’re looking for a YouTube channel audit / optimization tool rather than a simple SEO tool.

Good options:

• tubebuddy.com — Best-known for YouTube optimization workflows. Its tools can help identify optimization opportunities, improve titles/tags/descriptions, and manage older videos. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy

Best for: creators with a large back catalog who want a repeatable optimization workflow.

• vidiq.com — Strong for channel audits and prioritization. Its audit features analyze performance signals, traffic sources, retention-related data, and optimization gaps to surface videos worth improving. vidIQ

Best for: getting a ranked list of “fix these videos first” opportunities.

• tubetoolkit.com — More explicitly focused on identifying evergreen content, rising videos, and AI-generated optimization recommendations. TubeToolkit

Best for: quickly spotting videos that continue performing and finding refresh opportunities.

• tuberintel.com — Uses AI analysis to score videos and provide prioritized recommendations based on content, SEO, engagement, and channel signals. TuberIntel

Best for: strategy-style audits rather than only keyword suggestions.

A practical workflow would be:

1. Connect your channel analytics.
2. Identify videos with: - consistent views over 6–12+ months
3. high search traffic
4. strong watch time but declining impressions
5. outdated titles/thumbnails/descriptions
6. Prioritize: - High views + low CTR → thumbnail/title refresh
7. High retention + low impressions → SEO/topic repositioning
8. Strong comments/questions → update description, chapters, links, or create follow-ups

If you want the most automated “tell me what to fix first” experience, I’d start with vidIQ Channel Audit or TubeToolkit, then use TubeBuddy for bulk optimization tasks. vidIQ TubeToolkit

If you mean automatically scan your existing YouTube library, find videos that still have ongoing potential, and tell you what to optimize first, I’d look at vidiq.com first.

• vidIQ Channel Audit analyzes your channel and surfaces top-performing content using views, watch time, retention, subscribers gained, traffic sources, and search terms. It also identifies optimization issues with titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidIQ Help Center vidIQ
• Its Optimize Score heavily prioritizes title and thumbnail improvements—together they account for 96% of the score—so it can help establish a practical re-optimization priority. vidIQ Help Center
• tubebuddy.com is the other strong option. Its Best Practice Audit checks your entire video library for things like titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists, while its analytics tools provide video- and channel-level recommendations. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy

My pick

vidIQ is probably closer to what you're describing because you want “find my evergreen winners → rank the opportunities → recommend what to fix.” Its Channel Audit explicitly separates content to “double down on” from content that needs work and analyzes historical performance signals. vidIQ Help Center

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a literal feature called “Evergreen Video Detector” that perfectly labels videos as evergreen. You'd ideally define evergreen candidates using signals such as age + sustained recent views + search traffic + stable retention, then use the optimization audit to prioritize them.

If you tell me your channel size/niche and whether you want free or paid, I can recommend the best tool/workflow for automatically producing an “evergreen videos to re-optimize first” list.

If you mean “connect my YouTube channel, automatically find videos that still have long-term demand, then tell me which ones are most worth updating first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidiq.com — strongest fit for the analysis + prioritization side. Its Channel Audit analyzes performance, retention, watch time, subscribers, traffic sources, and search terms, while its Optimize tool lets you sort videos by optimization weaknesses and recommends improvements to titles/thumbnails/SEO. vidIQ Help Center vidIQ Help Center
• tubebuddy.com — stronger if you want to manage and update a large existing video library. Its audits check titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists, and it offers bulk-management/testing features. TubeBuddy vidIQ

The important distinction

Neither tool appears to have a simple, explicit “Evergreen Video Detector → Re-optimization Priority Score” feature. Instead, you can approximate it by combining:

Evergreen signal
→ older video + continuing views/search traffic + stable audience interest

Optimization opportunity
→ strong underlying video performance but weak/outdated title, thumbnail, description, etc.

Priority
→ high evergreen potential × high optimization upside.

For that specific workflow, vidIQ is probably the better starting point, because its Channel Audit gives you the performance signals needed to identify evergreen candidates, while Optimize handles the actual re-optimization recommendations. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center

If you tell me what kind of YouTube channel you have, I can also give you a concrete scoring formula for automatically ranking your videos from “optimize this week” → “leave alone.”

If you mean “scan my existing channel, find videos that still have durable/evergreen demand, and tell me which ones are most worth refreshing,” the closest fits I found are:

• TubeBuddy Opportunity Finder — probably the most direct match for optimization opportunities. It analyzes individual videos and produces suggestions intended to improve views and engagement. TubeBuddy
• Backsurge — particularly interesting if your goal is re-optimization of old videos. It analyzes your video library, flags declining/underperforming videos, and lets you test new titles, thumbnails, and descriptions. Backsurge
• TubeToolkit — explicitly surfaces “Evergreen Content” and shows videos that keep performing, alongside rising videos and channel analytics. TubeToolkit
• vidIQ AI Coach — better for the “what should I fix first?” part. It uses your channel context and performance signals to diagnose stalled videos and produce prioritized channel recommendations. vidIQ
• YouTube Studio / Ask Studio — worth checking before paying for anything. YouTube's own analytics can compare content and traffic sources, while its newer AI tools can analyze your channel/video performance and suggest actions. Google Help Google Help

My pick

For your exact workflow, I'd use TubeToolkit or Backsurge + YouTube Studio:

Evergreen detection → identify declining-but-still-relevant videos → rank by upside → change thumbnail/title/description → measure the result.

If you want one tool that most closely matches “automatically identify evergreen videos and recommend re-optimization priorities,” TubeToolkit is the most literal match, while Backsurge is stronger if you actually want to run and measure re-optimization experiments. TubeToolkit Backsurge

One important update: YouTube says the Inspiration tab is being deprecated starting August 2026 in favor of Ask Studio, so I wouldn't build a workflow around Inspiration now. Google Help

If you mean YouTube videos specifically, vidIQ is probably the closest fit.

• vidiq.com can analyze your channel and surface top-performing content, underperformers, traffic sources, retention, subscriber growth, and optimization gaps. It also provides an optimization checklist for titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidIQ vidIQ
• Its Optimize tools can automatically review existing videos and suggest improvements, which makes it particularly useful for deciding which older videos deserve attention first. vidIQ
• TubeBuddy is another option; its Niche/Topical Analysis tools help identify topics and content that continue to resonate and compare performance over time. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy

What I'd use for your exact goal

I'd define an evergreen score from your YouTube Analytics—e.g. recurring views, search/browse traffic, age, stable watch time, and recent performance—and then have vidIQ evaluate optimization opportunities.

The resulting priority list could look like:

1. High evergreen + declining views + strong historical performance → highest priority.
2. High evergreen + good views + weak title/thumbnail/SEO → quick win.
3. High evergreen + already optimized + stable growth → leave alone.
4. Low evergreen / trend-dependent → don't spend much re-optimization time.

If you want, I can also identify the best tool/workflow that can actually connect to your YouTube channel and automatically produce that prioritized evergreen-reoptimization list, rather than just auditing videos manually.

If you mean “scan my existing channel, find videos that still have durable/evergreen potential, and tell me which ones I should re-optimize first,” I’d pick vidIQ.

• vidIQ Channel Audit is the closest fit. It analyzes your channel’s performance, identifies top-performing content, traffic sources, retention, search terms, and optimization gaps, then surfaces content that deserves attention. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• Its newer Optimize tool lets you sort your library by things like lowest title score and lowest thumbnail score, then work through title, thumbnail, SEO, and content improvements. vidIQ Help Center
• For prioritization, vidIQ specifically recommends starting with videos that already have traction and then re-optimizing their titles/descriptions rather than blindly updating the whole library. vidIQ

TubeBuddy is the main alternative. Its Opportunity Finder and Channel Audit identify optimization opportunities and underperforming videos, while SEO Studio focuses more specifically on improving search-oriented metadata. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy TubeBuddy

One caveat: neither tool literally has a perfect “evergreen detector.” I’d define evergreen candidates using your YouTube Analytics data—e.g., videos that continue getting meaningful views/search traffic months after publication—and then use vidIQ to rank the optimization opportunities. YouTube itself recommends evaluating videos through appeal (CTR), engagement, and satisfaction/average view duration. Google Help

My pick: vidIQ Channel Audit + Optimize if your goal is “tell me which old videos are worth reviving and what to fix first.”

If you mean “scan my existing channel, find older videos that still have durable demand, then tell me which ones are worth updating first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidIQ — its Channel Audit analyzes channel/video performance, including views, watch time, subscriber gains, retention, and engagement, while its Optimize area lets you sort your video library and prioritize title, thumbnail, SEO, and content improvements. vidIQ Help Center vidIQ Help Center
• TubeBuddy — probably the stronger alternative if you want a more explicit optimization-opportunity workflow. Its Opportunity Finder analyzes videos and provides actionable suggestions, while its Channel Audit checks titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists. TubeBuddy TubeBuddy
• YouTube Studio itself — best source of truth for determining whether something is actually “evergreen.” YouTube's discovery system considers relevance, viewer behavior, search, and satisfaction, so I'd use Studio's traffic sources/performance data to distinguish durable search-driven videos from videos that merely had a temporary spike. Google Help

My pick

vidIQ for automated prioritization; TubeBuddy for hands-on bulk optimization.

Neither tool appears to have a literal one-click “identify all evergreen videos and rank re-optimization priorities” feature. The ideal workflow is to score your library using things like:

Evergreen potential = sustained recent views + search traffic + stable retention + historical performance − age/decay

Then prioritize videos with high ongoing demand but weak packaging (low/improvable CTR, outdated title/thumbnail, weak description/internal linking, etc.). That is generally a better target than simply optimizing your worst-performing videos. YouTube confirms that search ranking considers relevance and engagement rather than simply total views. Google Help

If you tell me your channel size/niche and whether you want a free or paid tool, I can narrow this down to the best specific tool and workflow.

If you mean a tool that can look across your existing YouTube library, identify videos with lasting potential, and tell you what to optimize first, vidIQ is probably the closest fit.

vidIQ has two particularly relevant features:

• Channel Audit analyzes your channel’s performance and surfaces “Content to Double Down On,” weak-performing videos, retention, watch time, subscribers gained, search terms, and missing optimizations. vidIQ Help Center
• Optimize lets you analyze existing videos, score their titles/thumbnails/SEO, sort videos by low scores, and generate specific optimization suggestions. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• Its AI Coach can turn the audit into prioritized recommendations, including diagnosing stalled videos and identifying the top things to fix first. vidIQ

For your specific use case

I'd use this workflow:

Evergreen candidate → current traction → optimization gap → estimated upside → priority

For example, a video from 2–4 years ago might be high priority if it:

• still gets meaningful search/suggested traffic,
• addresses a topic that hasn't become obsolete,
• has good retention/watch time,
• but has a weak title, thumbnail, description, or packaging.

vidIQ can handle much of the performance + optimization portion automatically. It doesn't appear to have a dedicated button literally called “find my evergreen videos”, so the evergreen classification itself is something I'd treat as an analytical layer rather than blindly accepting the tool's ranking.

TubeBuddy is another good option. Its Best Practice Audit checks titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists across your channel, but it's more oriented toward finding optimization issues than automatically identifying your highest-upside evergreen back catalog. tubebuddy.com

If you want, I can also give you a specific scoring formula for automatically ranking your entire channel's videos into “re-optimize now / monitor / leave alone.”

If you mean a tool that connects to your YouTube channel, identifies videos that continue attracting views, and then tells you what to optimize first, I’d look at these:

• YouTube Studio — best first-party option. Its Analytics can surface older videos that are still gaining traction and lets you evaluate traffic sources, CTR, retention, and watch time. YouTube specifically recommends looking for patterns in topic longevity and individual video performance. Google Help Google Help
• vidiq.com — probably the best fit if your goal is re-optimization. It combines channel auditing with keyword/search analysis, title recommendations, and competitive benchmarks. OverseerOS vidIQ
• tubetoolkit.com — specifically advertises channel-connected analytics that identify rising videos and evergreen content, making it a close match to your wording. TubeToolkit
• trendsiq.io — more focused on identifying evergreen topics using sustained search demand and decay rate, rather than auditing your existing videos. TrendsIQ

My pick

For an automated workflow of “find my evergreen videos → rank the opportunities → tell me what to change”, I'd start with vidIQ + YouTube Studio.

A useful priority model is:

Evergreen potential × current traffic × search opportunity × optimization gap

For example, an old video with steady search traffic but a mediocre CTR is a much higher-priority re-optimization candidate than an old video that's already performing exceptionally well. YouTube confirms that changing a title or thumbnail can change how viewers respond and therefore potentially improve performance, although it recommends not changing what's already working. Google Help

If you want, I can also identify the tool that does the most automation specifically—i.e., automatically produces a ranked “optimize these 10 videos first” list rather than just giving you analytics.

If you mean a tool that automatically finds evergreen videos on your own YouTube channel and tells you what to re-optimize first, these are the closest fits:

For a re-optimization workflow, I’d look for a tool that ranks videos using signals like:

1. High views per day despite age → likely evergreen
2. Strong watch time but declining impressions → update title/thumbnail/description
3. High retention + weak CTR → thumbnail/title priority
4. High search traffic + outdated info → refresh content or add a pinned update
5. Old videos with rising velocity → create related videos and internal links

If you already have access to YouTube Studio, its Analytics data is still the source of truth; third-party tools mainly help surface patterns faster. For an automated “give me my top 10 videos to refresh this month” workflow, TubeToolkit-style analytics or a custom dashboard built on the YouTube Analytics API would be the closest match. tubetoolkit.com

I can also suggest a stack depending on whether your goal is more views, more subscribers, or more revenue from old videos.

If you mean YouTube, vidIQ is probably the closest fit.

• vidIQ Optimize can analyze your existing video library, score titles/thumbnails/SEO, and let you sort videos to identify which ones need attention first. vidiq.com
• vidIQ Channel Audit looks at channel-level performance and engagement to surface improvement opportunities. support.vidiq.com
• vidIQ AI Coach uses your channel context and performance data to recommend specific next actions, including diagnosing stalled videos and prioritizing channel fixes. vidiq.com
• It also tracks the effects of title/thumbnail changes, which is useful for deciding whether an older "evergreen" video is worth re-packaging. support.vidiq.com

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Opportunity Finder analyzes video performance and provides optimization suggestions, while its broader channel-management tools are geared toward working through an existing video library. www.tubebuddy.com

One caveat: neither tool can perfectly label a video "evergreen" in the strict sense. I'd define evergreen candidates using signals such as steady recent views, search traffic, sustained watch time, topic durability, and declining CTR despite continued demand. YouTube itself notes that old videos can regain traction when interest in their topic increases or new viewers discover them. support.google.com

My pick: vidIQ if your goal is "scan my channel → find promising old videos → tell me what to optimize first." TubeBuddy is more compelling if you want heavier bulk/channel-management workflows. support.vidiq.comvidiq.com

vidIQ Optimize
vidIQ AI Coach
TubeBuddy Opportunity Finder

If you mean a tool that can scan your existing YouTube library and tell you which older videos are worth re-optimizing first, I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidIQ Channel Audit — probably the closest match. Its Channel Audit analyzes channel/video performance, identifies strong and weak content, and surfaces optimization issues across titles, descriptions, thumbnails, tags, cards, end screens, and playlists. support.vidiq.comsupport.google.com
• TubeBuddy Opportunity Finder — good for finding individual videos with optimization opportunities and generating suggestions intended to improve views/engagement. www.tubebuddy.com
• TubeBuddy Best Practice Audit — better for systematically auditing your library for things like titles, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, playlists, and SEO issues. www.tubebuddy.com
• YouTube Studio Advanced Mode — useful as the underlying source of truth. It lets you compare individual videos and export analytics, but it doesn't automatically give you the same kind of re-optimization priority list. support.google.com

For your specific use case

I'd choose vidIQ if your goal is something like:

“Find my evergreen videos that still have demand, determine which ones have the biggest upside, and rank them so I know which thumbnails/titles/metadata to fix first.”

One caveat: “evergreen” isn't really a single metric that these tools automatically label perfectly. The strongest workflow is to combine age + sustained views/search traffic + retention/watch time + current impressions/CTR + topic durability, then prioritize videos where a packaging/SEO change could plausibly unlock more traffic.

If you tell me your channel niche and roughly how many videos you have, I can also recommend the best tool/workflow for automatically producing a “Top 20 videos to re-optimize” queue.

If you mean a tool that automatically scans your existing YouTube library, finds older videos that still have ongoing demand, and then tells you which ones to optimize first, I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidiq.com — analyzes channel performance, including VPH, watch time, retention, subscriber growth, traffic sources, and underperforming videos, then surfaces optimization opportunities. vidIQ vidIQ Help Center
• vidIQ Optimize can then sort your video library and prioritize videos with weak title/thumbnail scores, with recommendations for titles, thumbnails, SEO, and content. vidIQ Help Center
• tubebuddy.com is a strong alternative. It analyzes videos for optimization opportunities such as retention problems, tags, cards, and other engagement issues. TubeBuddy
• tubebuddy.com is particularly useful for systematically auditing an older library—checking titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists. TubeBuddy

For your specific use case

I'd choose vidIQ if the goal is:

Evergreen candidate → current performance → optimization gap → priority ranking → recommended title/thumbnail/SEO changes.

One caveat: these tools don't necessarily have a single button literally called “find my evergreen videos.” The strongest approach is to use their channel-performance data to identify videos with persistent/recent views despite being old, then use the optimization scores to prioritize them. YouTube Studio's Advanced Mode can also provide the underlying video-level data for this analysis. support.google.com

If you tell me your channel size/niche and whether you're looking for a free or paid tool, I can narrow this down to the best option and explain exactly how I'd set up the evergreen-priority workflow.

If you mean “automatically find old videos that still have demand (evergreen potential) and tell me which ones to update first,” there are a few tools that get close:

For a true evergreen re-optimization workflow, I’d usually combine:

1. YouTube Studio → find candidates:
   • videos 6+ months old
   • still getting search/browse traffic
   • high average view duration
   • declining impressions or CTR

2. TubeBuddy or vidIQ → diagnose:
   • outdated titles
   • weak keywords
   • missing tags/chapters
   • thumbnail problems

3. AI analysis layer → prioritize:
   • “Update this video first because it has high historical demand but declining packaging”
   • “Refresh these 10 thumbnails”
   • “Rewrite these titles around current search intent”

If you want a mostly automated “rank my backlog by ROI” system, look for a tool that can access YouTube Analytics API data (especially impressions, CTR, traffic sources, and watch time). Public channel auditors can estimate opportunities, but they cannot see the private metrics that matter most for deciding which old videos are worth refreshing. viewmize.com

For most established channels, the closest practical setup today is YouTube Studio + TubeBuddy/vidIQ rather than a single fully autonomous evergreen optimizer.

If you want automatic identification of evergreen videos + a ranked re-optimization queue, I’d pick vidIQ.

• Channel Audit identifies strong/weak videos using views, watch time, subscribers gained, retention, traffic sources, etc. vidiq.com
• Optimize then scores individual videos and lets you sort by the weakest title/thumbnail scores, with AI recommendations for titles, thumbnails, SEO, and content. vidiq.com
• Its Scorecard also tracks how title/thumbnail changes affect the video's views over time. support.vidiq.com

One caveat: vidIQ doesn't appear to have a dedicated button called “identify evergreen videos.” You'd infer evergreen candidates from videos that continue generating views over long periods, especially via Search/Suggested traffic, then use Channel Audit + Optimize to prioritize them.

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Opportunity Finder and analytics tools are good for finding optimization opportunities, while its SEO Studio focuses on improving titles, descriptions, and tags. www.tubebuddy.com

My choice: vidIQ if your goal is specifically “scan my existing library and tell me what to fix first.”

If you mean “scan my existing YouTube library, find videos that still have durable demand, then tell me which ones are most worth updating,” the closest fit is vidIQ.

• vidIQ Channel Audit identifies your strongest and weakest videos using views, watch time, retention, subscriber growth, traffic sources, and search terms, then surfaces optimization issues with titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidiq.com
• Its AI Coach can turn your channel data into prioritized recommendations—e.g., which videos to fix first and how to improve packaging. vidiq.com
• TubeBuddy is a strong alternative if your emphasis is actually executing the re-optimization. Its audits check titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists, while its analytics surface videos and opportunities worth acting on. www.tubebuddy.com

Important distinction: neither tool appears to have a single native feature literally called “Evergreen Video Detector.” You'd identify evergreen candidates from signals such as older videos that continue generating views/search traffic, then use the audit/optimization features to prioritize them.

My pick: vidIQ for “what should I optimize first?”; TubeBuddy for “how do I systematically optimize a large back catalog?”

vidIQ Channel Audit
TubeBuddy Channel Audit

If you tell me your channel niche and roughly how many videos you have, I can also give you a specific evergreen-scoring framework (views velocity + search traffic + age + CTR + retention) to rank your entire library.

If you mean “scan my whole YouTube library, find older videos that still have demand, and tell me which ones are most worth updating first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidIQ — its Channel Audit analyzes performance, traffic sources, retention, search terms, and underperforming videos, while Optimize scores existing videos and lets you sort them by weak optimization areas. That makes it the closest fit for building a re-optimization priority list. vidiq.com
• TubeBuddy — stronger if you want a more hands-on optimization workflow. Its Opportunity Finder and Channel Audit identify optimization opportunities across titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. www.tubebuddy.com

My pick: vidIQ for the specific use case you described. It gives you channel-level performance signals and video-level optimization recommendations, rather than simply checking whether each video follows SEO best practices. vidiq.com

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a single native feature literally called “Evergreen Video Detector” that perfectly identifies evergreen videos automatically. In practice, you'd identify candidates from sustained/recurring traffic, search terms, retention and historical performance, then use the optimization tools to prioritize them.

If you tell me your channel niche and roughly how many videos you have, I can also tell you exactly what criteria I'd use to rank your evergreen videos into “optimize now / optimize later / leave alone.”

If you mean a tool that automatically scans your existing YouTube library, finds videos with durable/evergreen potential, and tells you what to re-optimize first, vidIQ is probably the closest fit.

• vidIQ Channel Audit analyzes your channel’s performance, including views/hour, watch time, retention, subscriber gains, traffic sources, and underperforming videos, then surfaces optimization opportunities. vidiq.com
• vidIQ Optimize can analyze existing videos and score titles, thumbnails, and SEO, with sorting so you can find videos with the weakest optimization and prioritize them. vidiq.com
• Its AI Coach can use your channel context to identify what needs fixing and provide prioritized recommendations rather than just generic SEO tips. vidiq.com
• TubeBuddy Opportunity Finder is another option, particularly for identifying optimization opportunities and suggesting actions for individual videos. www.tubebuddy.com

One caveat: “evergreen” isn't generally a single button that YouTube/vidIQ labels perfectly. I'd define it using signals such as steady views over months, meaningful Search/Suggested traffic, strong retention, and a topic that isn't dependent on a short-lived trend, then use the optimization scores to rank which ones deserve work first. YouTube itself recommends looking at CTR, views, and average view duration when evaluating individual videos. support.google.com

If your goal is specifically “give me a ranked list of my 10 old videos most worth re-optimizing, with the exact title/thumbnail/description changes to make,” I'd pick vidIQ over TubeBuddy. vidiq.com

vidIQ
TubeBuddy

If you mean “scan my existing YouTube library, find videos that are still relevant/searchable, and tell me which ones are worth updating first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidIQ Channel Audit analyzes channel performance, retention, watch time, subscriber gains, traffic sources, and underperforming videos, then surfaces optimization opportunities. support.vidiq.com
• vidIQ Optimize can then sort your videos by optimization weaknesses and recommend improvements to titles, thumbnails, SEO, and other elements. vidiq.com
• It also has keyword research that identifies search terms and opportunities based on your channel data, which is particularly useful for deciding whether an older video has ongoing search potential. support.vidiq.com

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Opportunity Finder analyzes individual videos for optimization opportunities, while its SEO Studio helps improve titles, descriptions, tags, and keyword targeting. www.tubebuddy.com

My pick

vidIQ is closer to what you described because its Channel Audit + Optimize combination is better suited to creating a “these 10 old videos are your highest-priority re-optimization candidates” workflow.

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a dedicated “Evergreen Detector” that simply labels every video evergreen. You'd ideally combine age + continuing views/search traffic + topic durability + current CTR/retention + optimization gaps to rank the opportunities.

If you tell me what kind of channel you have, I can also give you a concrete scoring formula for automatically ranking your entire back catalog.

If you mean “automatically scan my existing YouTube library, find videos that still have durable/evergreen demand, and tell me which ones are worth re-optimizing first,” I’d pick vidIQ.

• vidIQ Channel Audit analyzes your channel and surfaces performance, retention, subscribers, traffic sources, and optimization gaps. It also gives an optimization checklist for titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidiq.comsupport.vidiq.comsupport.vidiq.com
• Its own recommended workflow is particularly close to what you're asking: identify videos that already have traction, then prioritize re-optimizing their titles/descriptions rather than spending effort on weak videos. vidiq.com
• vidIQ's Scorecard/AI Coach can then help explain why an individual video is performing well or poorly and suggest optimization actions. support.vidiq.com

TubeBuddy is the strongest alternative. Its Opportunity Finder generates video-specific optimization suggestions, while Best Practice Audit scans titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists. www.tubebuddy.com

My pick

vidIQ → Channel Audit if your priority is automated prioritization across the whole back catalog.

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a literal “Evergreen Videos” detector that simply labels videos evergreen. The better approach is to infer evergreen candidates from age + sustained views/search traffic + retention + topic durability, then rank those candidates by optimization upside. vidIQ gives you most of the underlying signals for doing this automatically. vidiq.comsupport.vidiq.comsupport.vidiq.com

If you tell me what kind of YouTube channel you have, I can also give you a concrete evergreen re-optimization scoring formula (e.g., which 10 videos to tackle first and why).

If you mean “scan my entire channel, find older videos that still have durable demand, then tell me which ones are most worth updating first,” the closest fit is vidIQ, specifically its Channel Audit + Scorecard/Optimize workflow.

• Channel Audit surfaces your strongest videos using views, watch time, retention, subscribers gained, traffic sources, and search terms, while also flagging optimization gaps in titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. support.vidiq.comwww.tubebuddy.com
• Scorecard tracks a video's historical performance and can show when title/thumbnail changes affected its trajectory. support.vidiq.com
• Its AI Coach/MCP can analyze connected YouTube Analytics and answer questions about your channel performance, making it particularly useful for turning the data into a prioritized re-optimization plan. support.vidiq.com

Important caveat: vidIQ doesn't appear to have a single button explicitly called “Evergreen Video Detector.” I'd define evergreen candidates from your Analytics as videos that are older + still generating consistent views/search traffic + have strong retention/watch time, then rank those by potential upside from a title/thumbnail/description refresh.

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Best Practice Audit automatically checks titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions, and playlists, and its topical analysis can identify topics that continue to resonate over time. www.tubebuddy.com

My pick: vidIQ if your priority is “Which existing videos should I re-optimize first, and why?” TubeBuddy is particularly good if you want a more checklist-oriented audit.

If you connect your YouTube channel, I can also help you build an evergreen scoring system (e.g., Evergreen Potential × Traffic Opportunity × Optimization Gap) so the output is a ranked “fix these 10 videos first” list.

If you mean automatically scan your existing YouTube library, find older videos that still have evergreen potential, and tell you what to fix first, vidIQ is probably the closest fit.

• vidIQ Optimize — analyzes existing videos and gives optimization suggestions for titles, thumbnails, SEO, and descriptions. It can sort videos by low optimization scores, making it useful for prioritizing a backlog. vidiq.com
• vidIQ Channel Audit — looks across channel performance, including views/hour, watch time, engagement, subscribers gained, and retention, which is useful for identifying videos worth revisiting. support.vidiq.com
• vidIQ AI Coach — can turn those channel-level signals into recommended next actions and help diagnose why individual videos stalled. vidiq.com

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Opportunity Finder identifies optimization opportunities and provides suggestions tailored to your channel, while SEO Studio focuses on improving titles, descriptions, keywords, and search visibility. www.tubebuddy.com

One caveat: neither tool literally defines “evergreen” perfectly and then produces a guaranteed optimal re-optimization queue. YouTube itself recommends looking at performance over a wide range such as 90 days and grouping content by the longevity of the topic. support.google.com

My pick: vidIQ if your goal is “scan my whole back catalog → identify promising old videos → prioritize what I should re-optimize → suggest the changes.”

If you mean “scan my whole YouTube channel, find older videos that are still generating demand, and tell me which ones are worth updating first,” I’d look at vidIQ first.

• vidIQ Channel Audit — analyzes channel performance, including views/hour, watch time, retention, traffic sources, subscriber growth, and underperforming content, then surfaces optimization opportunities. vidiq.com
• vidIQ Optimize can then prioritize videos with weak title/thumbnail/SEO scores and provide specific optimization suggestions. vidiq.com
• Its AI Coach can turn the analytics into recommendations such as why a video stalled and what to change. vidiq.com

TubeBuddy is the other strong option. Its Opportunity Finder identifies optimization opportunities based on performance and engagement, while its analytics suite includes retention analysis and video-level recommendations. www.tubebuddy.com

One caveat: neither tool appears to have a feature literally labeled “Evergreen Video Detector.” For that specific job, the ideal workflow is to identify videos with sustained views over a long period + ongoing search/suggested traffic + strong retention, then rank them by potential upside from a title/thumbnail/description refresh. YouTube Studio itself provides the underlying analytics and Advanced Mode for comparisons/exports. support.google.com

My pick: vidIQ if you want the most automated “what should I fix first?” experience; YouTube Studio + a custom analysis if you want the most rigorous evergreen ranking.

If you mean a tool that can scan your existing YouTube library, surface videos with durable/evergreen potential, and tell you what to optimize first, vidIQ’s Channel Audit is probably the closest fit.

• vidIQ Channel Audit identifies your strongest and weakest videos using views, watch time, retention, subscriber gains, traffic sources, search terms, etc., and provides an optimization checklist for titles, descriptions, thumbnails, cards, end screens, and playlists. vidiq.comsupport.google.com
• Its AI Coach/Optimize features can then help diagnose individual videos and recommend improvements. support.vidiq.com
• TubeBuddy is a good alternative: its Channel Audit checks titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, cards, end screens, captions and playlists, while its analytics tools identify retention and performance opportunities. www.tubebuddy.com
• YouTube Studio itself gives you the underlying data—CTR, views, average view duration, traffic sources, etc.—but it doesn't appear to have a dedicated “find my evergreen videos and prioritize re-optimization” workflow. support.google.com

My pick: vidIQ if automation and prioritization are the main goals. Its Channel Audit is particularly suited to turning a large back catalog into a list of what's working, what needs work, and what to optimize first. vidiq.com

One caveat: “evergreen” is usually something you infer from long-term traffic patterns, not a single metric. I'd prioritize videos that are older + still generating consistent views + receiving Search/Suggested traffic + have clear metadata/thumbnail upside.

vidIQ Channel Audit
TubeBuddy Channel Audit