Question is basically as title. For reference, I'm posting this with my game's demo,  https://pennywhistlestudios.itch.io/fourth-time-around, in mind, but I imagine this could be generally useful for those of us aiming to release more commercial products.

Not asking for the specifics of the algorithm to be disclosed, but it would be nice to get a little more insight into how games can move up these charts. For example, are reviews/comments weighted particularly heavily? If so, I would likely prioritize asking for reviews more heavily in my CTAs (as opposed to, e.g., Steam wishlists, at least at this stage in my demo's marketing lifecycle). Similarly, if raw download count matters more, this would incentivize more small influencer outreach. 

Obviously, moving all the needles at once is ideal, but as a solo developer with limited time/budget for marketing, I just want to ensure that my efforts are focused on the highest impact things.

but it would be nice to get a little more insight into how games can move up these charts

Itch specifically does not want people to know. The first thing some people will do, is to abuse the system. And then abuse it even more. I have seen developers that were delisted for gaming the system.

You should market your game to attract genuine players, and not people that would make your metrics look better.

That being said, the metric does include a boost for new games and some sort of running average to not display the all time popularity. And the metrics are shifted with more emphasis on newness for new & popular. Apart from that boost thingy, all this is pretty obvious, when you think about it. There is an old post of leafo somewhere where this boost was mentioned. But it was not told how much it was or how long it would be active. The takeaway was: they seem to mix up the ranking a bit, so it is not an exact metric, like number of views or any such things. Maybe there are cappings or diminishing returns, so your cta would not do much, but instead make your account look suspicous. Also, you can't compare a browser game to a download game 1:1. Or a finished game to a game that releases chapters and regularly attracks recurring players.

In between the lines, I do have the impression, that Itch values natural traffic. Whatever natural means in a world of bits. But people coming over to your game from a Youtubevideo are probably worth more than people visiting your game, because they follow you and visit the game from their feed. Or not. This is speculation. But you can bet that Itch does it's best to filter out any dubious attempts to gain popularity.