We have investigated the effect of device geometry on the excess low frequency 1/f noise of thin-film YBCO dc SQUIDS cooled in static magnetic fields. The key factor in eliminating this noise is the reduction of the linewidth of the SQUID loop to a value below the average separation of the flux vortices. The spectral density of the flux noise in these devices was independence of cooling field up to 33 mu T in the best case. Estimates indicate that incorporating this device into a directly-coupled magnetometer would not increase the noise further.