With 2 (of several) KPI/KSI's for success of Internet Marketing were: 1. traffic from referrals, and 2. traffic from search If you were told that all bounce traffic (bad traffic) has to be removed from this number would you think that this would be a fair representation of your efforts?
I don't think so. After all, the job of the SEO/SEM is to get traffic /to/ the site. Keeping people /on/ the site is a job for the web designer. ... that is, unless you are also the web designer
No this would not be fair. As amerigohosting stated, it is not your fault that these people are not staying on the website. There could be major issues with the website causing the bouncing. With some sites a bounce isn't necessarily a bad thing. That visitor may have found everything they needed on that one landing page. They might have even bookmarked it to come back later. They could've even phoned to place an order. They should instead judge your performance based upon overall traffic and search engine rankings.