Same as always: be active in the community so that people know you exist, and promote your game outside itch.io so you don't rely on a single source of traffic. There's no magic, just work and patience.
Viewing post in How to raise the game in the rankings ?
As explained repeatedly on the forum, a devlog marked as "major release or update" will be reviewed by staff, and might cause your game to be put back at the top of new releases if it's approved. But more likely, the creators of those games you saw kept promoting them, otherwise it wouldn't last long or help much.