Nobody can answer that, because there really isn't a recipe or way to make a game popular. If there was such a formula, you'd have a million popular games on Itch.
You have to promote your game and not just within Itch, go out and find people who might be interested in your project, that's the only way.
How to populate the server of a multiplayer game in itch.io
Host it on a platform that has inbuilt multiplayer support and some sort of friends system, so players can play with their real life and their online friends.
Itch is not such a platform.
If your game has anonymous multiplayer, you simply have the same problem as anyone else. Getting an audience. Good luck with that. You and several thousand other developers are trying to do this. It is just like hechelion explained. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it, and everyone would be equal again.
Do not believe all you read in the net. But feel free to search the open community on Itch. There is a thread about gaining popularity every week or so. Maybe there is some wisdom you can adapt to your needs.
And maybe take a step back from the caps lock and if people tell you not to follow them, maybe do so. This is not a regular social media site.
