There is no one generally applicable strategy to select a journal to publish in. Metrics such as Impact Factor and Citations help but they vary a lot between fields. It also depends a lot on the content, quality, and scope of your work for whether you will get into a prestigious journal. Note that some smaller specialised journals are not necessarily easier to get in to, they may even have higher standards in technical skills even if they will accept work that is not so groundbreaking or novel.
There are many reasons that a journal could be "emerging" and they're not all necessarily for dubious reasons. Many subfields have emerged recently and of course new journals must be formed for the purpose of publishing this work. Similarly, there is a trend towards more interdisciplinary research and more demand for Open Access journals. You should still be careful with unknown journals as they can be "predatory". Some will publish almost anything to get your precious open access fees. If you are unsure and have not heard of the journal, it is probably not a good idea to submit there. However, there can be many valid reasons that a new journal has been formed that does not yet have an impact factor (it takes years to accrue citations so the IF is uncertain until the journal has been established). You can still assess the quality of the journal based on other factors: the quality of the existing publications, whether editors are well-known members of your field, or whether it is affiliated with an established academic society or publisher (publishers such as Springer-Nature and Elsevier start new journals quite often).
If you are unsure, you should consult with other researchers in your field. If you are a student, this should be one of the roles of your supervisor(s) and advisory committee. They are experts in your field and have more experience with this than you. Prospective supervisors will often also give advice on how to apply if you ask them. If you are a postdoc or above, you can still consult with your colleagues and get their advice. Generally, what matters is the reputation of the journal and publisher. If members of your department think the journal is okay, so too should your thesis examiners and future prospective employers. Impact Factor is just one of the considerations for the quality of a publication and a journal. Of course, they will also read your work and assess it on its own merits as well (as will your reviewers).
